Break Down
by Twisteddarkness225
Summary: Sequel to 'Getting Revenge'. Now that Naruto's name has been cleared, things have gone back to normal. That is aside from a few changes. NaruHina. One-sided InoTen. Rated T.
1. Chapter 1

Well, after finally finishing 'Getting Revenge' I decided to take the pairings I set up and use them for a third and final part of my storyline. Here's the first chapter, let me know what you think.

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Naruto in any way. I only own Twisted, and that isn't much to be proud of. I make no money from writing this story.

**Break Down**

The sun climbed higher into the clear morning sky. It was a little after ten in the morning and people were going about their business in the Village hidden in the leaves. Kakashi Hatake was calmly walking down one of the streets, buried in his favorite book. With him was a man not much younger, dressed in typical Leaf ninja attire including a chunin's vest. He had pale blue eyes, and short, unruly hair that was a silverish-white like Kakashi's. His right arm was completely bandaged, with kanji written all over it, surrounding a paper seal on the forearm. He wore his head band turned slightly to the right side, showing the leaf symbol of the village. Like Kakashi he was reading a certain orange book, although he wasn't as far in the story as Kakashi was.

The two continued along their way, heading nowhere in particular. At some point they bumped into Asuma and Kurenai, both greeting Kakashi but only offering the other man a cold stare. Asuma took note of what the two were reading and shook his head.

"Someone could mistake the two of you for friends with the way you're both immersed in those books."

Kakashi looked up from his reading. "There's no need to insult me like that. Just because we have the same taste in books doesn't make us friends. Right Twisted?"

Twisted saved his place and shut the book, "Right, and if it wasn't for the fact I wasn't allowed anywhere without a jonin escort then he wouldn't have to be following me."

"It's your own fault for that!" Kurenai spat, "And for the record we don't like the idea of having to babysit you anymore than you do!"

Twisted smirked, "Oh really? That's funny Kurenai because I don't recall you having to ever once be my escort. Are you not good enough for the job? Or maybe little Kurenai-chan is afraid of being alone with me?"

Asuma glared daggers at the man, making it clear he wouldn't hesitate to hurt him if need be. Kurenai however beat him to it and slapped Twisted across the face. He brought his hand up to the red mark on his cheek and watched as Asuma and Kurenai left. Once they were a safe distance away Twisted turned to face Kakashi, grinning.

"I think she's warming up to me, she didn't hit me as hard today."

"Either that or she's just tired of hitting you every time she sees you."

Twisted shrugged as the two resumed walking. "Either way she sure knows how to hold a grudge. It's been nearly two weeks now; you think she'd get over it."

Kakashi turned a page in his book, "Normally people wouldn't be able to just 'get over' all the things you did. I can understand why she dislikes you so much. After all it was my student you used to harass Hinata."

"Yeah that was almost too easy." Twisted smirked, "Like the time I left Hinata unconscious in Naruto's arms with her pants down, just as Kurenai walked in on him. That was priceless!"

Twisted started to laugh, Kakashi glaring at him out of the corner of his eye. "It isn't funny."

"You're right, it was hilarious!"

Kakashi snapped his book shut, the simple action getting his point across. Twisted stopped laughing.

"Shutting up now."

"Wise decision. Now I think it's time we reported to Lady Tsunade."

Twisted sighed, "Great, I wonder how many D-rank missions she has for me today. I still can't believe she demoted me from jonin to a chunin. I didn't think she could do that."

"She was actually going to make you a genin, but didn't want to restrict you from more important missions. As much as she hates to admit it, you actually do have some useful skills. Like that odd jutsu of yours."

"You mean the shadow-stalker jutsu? Yeah, it comes in handy in tight situations as well as gathering information. It sucks that she had the interrogation units figure out how it works so she could put that seal on it. Now she can tell if I'm using it, as well as where I'm going."

"What I found interesting is that even though they had Inoichi Yamanaka probe your mind, and he couldn't find a trace of information about you aside of you're being a rogue ninja from the village hidden in the mist, that you prefer water and ice style jutsu and that you possess a kekkei genkai."

"Which is exactly what my shadow-stalker jutsu is. And as far as I'm concerned, I'm the only one left who has it."

Kakashi nodded, "It would seem so; there aren't even any records about such a kekkei genkai. It's a shame you can't be trusted, otherwise you could be a valuable ally to the village."

Twisted rolled his eyes, pretty much ignoring that last statement. He followed Kakashi to the Hokage's office, not looking forward to the visit.

----------

Meanwhile, at the Ichiraku ramen stand a rather odd couple was enjoying some time together. Naruto Uzumaki was downing his eleventh bowl of ramen while his date, Hinata Hyuga, was still only eating her first. The two had grown much closer since Twisted had been apprehended and forced to work for the village. They weren't exactly boyfriend and girlfriend yet, but they may as well have been. Hinata had gained confidence around the blonde boy and no longer stuttered around him, but she still blushed and even fainted on occasion. Naruto on the other hand had finally caught on to Hinata's feelings for him and, while he was still unsure of just how he felt for her, was becoming fond of just spending time with her.

Finishing his bowl, Naruto was about to ask for a twelfth helping. However, Hinata anticipated this and politely pushed her bowl over, offering it to him. Making sure it was really okay with her first, Naruto gladly accepted and reached to take the bowl. Their hands gently brushed against each other as Naruto grabbed it, the two of them blushing lightly. Naruto quickly ate Hinata's leftovers and finally full, he let out a sigh of satisfaction.

Their meal now done, Naruto paid the bill and they left the stand. Hinata had to head back home to do some training with Neji, but Naruto didn't want her to go just yet.

"Come on Hinata-chan, don't you at least want to go get some ice cream or something?"

She shook her head, "No thank you. I really need to be going; Neji-nii-san is waiting for me."

"Okay, I guess I'll see you later then."

Hinata stepped forward and hugged him, blushing a little. She wanted to kiss him too, to feel his lips against hers but she was too shy to do it or even ask for it. Naruto returned the hug, savoring the contact with Hinata before they separated. Hinata went home, leaving Naruto by himself. The boy sighed, now feeling bored without Hinata's company and walked aimlessly around for a while. Eventually he found himself on top of the Hokage monument. Taking a seat on the fourth's head, Naruto looked out at the village.

For a short while, Naruto enjoyed the peaceful view before him. He could see the whole village up here and no matter how down he was, he always felt better coming up here to just sit and look at the village. Sadly the peace was shattered not long after he got there.

The solitude Naruto was enjoying ended when Ino Yamanaka ran into the area. The blonde girl looked a bit distressed. She also looked like she had been running for a bit. Spotting Naruto she rushed over to him.

"Naruto! Quick, help me! I'm being chased!"

He got to his feet, ready for anything. "What? Who's after you?"

"It's that lesbo Tenten! She's been chasing me all over the place! I think she's getting some kind of sick enjoyment out of it!"

Naruto's shoulder slumped; he looked at her a bit disheartened. "That's all? I thought you were in trouble Ino."

She stomped her foot on the ground. "I am you idiot! She's getting more forward with me every damn time I see her! I keep telling her that I don't like girls but she's been giving me this crap about 'giving it a try'! Can you believe her!?"

Naruto stood straight, crossing his arms behind his head, "Well maybe if you did give her a chance she'd stop bugging you so much."

Ino's eye twitched, "You can't be serious! What are you brain dead!?"

"Hey it was just a suggestion. If you're gonna be like that then I guess I won't help you…"

Naruto turned to leave. Ino panicked and ran in front of him.

"Wait! I'm sorry, I didn't mean it! Please don't leave me alone, she's going to be here any second!"

"Well, okay. What do you need me to do?"

"I want you to act as a decoy and keep her occupied until I can get away."

Naruto smirked, "That's all? Piece of cake."

He formed a hand sign, transforming into Ino. The real Ino quickly guessed what he had planned. She was so happy she could have kissed him, but refrained from doing it. After all if Tenten were to see it, that would lead to some problems. Naruto told her to hide and he'd take care of Tenten when she arrived. Ino thanked him and hid in some nearby bushes, peeking out to watch what happened.

Naruto took a few steps back, not wanting to be too close to the real Ino just in case Tenten caught on to their little charade. A minute later the other kunoichi arrived, spotting Naruto and heading over to him thinking he was Ino.

"There you are Ino-chan! Finally tired of running?"

_Ino_ pouted, looking upset and trying to appeal to Tenten's attraction to the real Ino. "Why are you picking on me Tenten? Why did you chase me all over the village?"

Tenten crossed her arms, "It's your own fault; you're the one who ran off the second you saw me. I was only trying to tell you that Tsunade-sama wants to see you. She needs you for a mission."

Over in the bushes a bead of sweat ran down Ino's face. She hadn't thought that the other girl might actually have a reason to look for her other than the fact she liked her. Part of her felt a little foolish but she stood by her decision to have run from Tenten when she had gotten the chance. Truth was that she was starting to become a little afraid of the weapons mistress.

Naruto on the other hand was mildly irritated. He knew that Ino was overreacting when she had asked him to do this. Sure he didn't exactly know what was going on between the two girls, but he knew it couldn't be as bad as Ino made it sound. His mind quickly came up with a way to get on Ino's nerves, a little payback for exaggerating so much.

"I'm sorry Tenten-chan; I shouldn't have thought that way about you, forgive me?"

Tenten blushed, "Of course I will, now come on. You should have already received your mission from Tsunade-sama by now."

"Alright but before we go, could I show you something?"

"Okay, but make it quick. We really shouldn't keep her waiting any longer."

_Ino_ smirked and quickly formed a hand sign. In the bushes, the real Ino saw it and panicked.

"That idiot, he wouldn't!"

"Sexy Jutsu: Ino style!"

Naruto altered the transformation to make him look like an older version of Ino, only naked with smoke clouds covering certain parts of her body. The older Ino winked at Tenten and blew her a kiss, smiling seductively.

"Come and get me. Ten…ten…chan."

The brunette was frozen to the spot, gawking at the sight before her with a heavy blush and a mild nosebleed. The real Ino forgot all about trying to hide from the other girl and ran out into the open, punching Naruto in the head and dispelling the transformation.

"That isn't what I meant you idiot! I have half a mind to tell Hinata that you were just flirting with another girl while impersonating me!"

Naruto got up, rubbing the sore spot on his head. He was about to tell Ino off, pointing out that it was her idea to have him impersonate her in the first place but didn't get the chance because of Tenten also punching him in the head.

"Naruto! What the hell were you doing disguised as Ino-chan!?"

The boy pointed to the other blonde, now rubbing the new sore spot on his head. "It was her idea! She came up to me asking for help and said you were chasing her. She made it sound like you were harassing her or something so I helped her."

Ino glared at him "You call what you just did 'helping me'!? If anything you were helping her! I can't believe you did that!"

"Hey, maybe if you hadn't run from Tenten in the first place you wouldn't have had to asked me for help! She was only going to tell you that you had a mission but you ditched her the second you saw her!"

Ino didn't respond and went to leave. She figured she might as well see what her mission was. It would be a good excuse to stay away from Tenten for a while. She didn't get far before Tenten caught up to her and grabbed her shoulder.

"Wait up a sec, Ino-chan."

Ino pulled away from her, "Back off you freak!"

Tenten grabbed the girl's shoulder again and pinned her to a tree. "Hold still!"

Tenten leaned closer to Ino, the distance between their faces becoming shorter. Ino's eyes widened, thinking that the other girl was going to kiss her. When Tenten's face got close enough that Ino could feel her breath she closed her eyes, knowing any second the girl would kiss her. But the feel of Tenten's lips never came; Ino opened her eyes again and saw the older girl smiling at her.

"Sorry about that, you had some leaves in your hair and I wanted to get them out for you."

Tenten held up a few leaves in her free hand, showing she was telling the truth. She let them drop to the ground and placed her hand on Ino's cheek, caressing it with a mischievous look in her eyes.

"Ino-chan, shouldn't you be going to see Tsunade-sama? You can't expect her to wait forever; she's probably already assigned your mission to someone else by now. I hope so because then maybe we can spend a little time getting to know each other better."

Tenten leaned in again, this time definitely closing in for a kiss. Unlike last time though, Ino broke free of the girl's grip and bolted to see the Hokage. Tenten watched her run off and then burst into a fit of giggles. Naruto, who had watched the whole thing happen, looked at the brunette like she was crazy.

"What's so funny?"

"Did you see the look on her face!? She almost looked disappointed when I took the leaves out of her hair. Like she was expecting me to do something else. So I went to kiss her and she got so embarrassed she ran off! She's so cute and fun to tease."

Naruto shook his head, now having a better understanding of why Ino was so edgy around Tenten. "She was right; you _do_ get off by chasing her around."

"Oh, shut up. What do you know?"

Naruto ignored her and went back to looking out at the village. Tenten had nothing better to do so she joined him. For a short while the two sat there in peace and said nothing. But at some point Tenten's mind began to wander, about Ino mostly. There was one thing about the blonde that she couldn't seem to get out of her mind. Turning to Naruto, she voiced her thoughts.

"Hey Naruto? Do you really think that Ino-chan will look like that when she grows up?"

TBC.

Well it's finally finished. Sorry it took so long to get the first chapter up, but I have been having a lot of things to do lately and it's been a real pain. Hopefully now that I have this started it'll be easier to work on it.


	2. Chapter 2

Well, got the next chapter here. Time to get into the plotline. Thanx to all of you who reviewed, let me know what you think.

Chapter 2)

Naruto smiled at Hinata, "Come on Hinata-chan, let's do it."

Hinata blushed, "I don't know Naruto-kun; we shouldn't. It isn't right."

"Aw come on Hinata-chan," He took her hand, "It'll be fun, I promise."

She shook her head, "I really don't think we should do this. Won't we get in trouble?"

He held her hand a little tighter, looking into her eyes, "Please? I promise you'll enjoy it. Just this once?"

She hesitated, "Well, I guess. But I still think it's a bad idea."

"You worry too much, what's the worst that could happen?"

He brought her over to the bed, a huge smile on his face. He could hardly contain himself; he had been wanting to do this for a while and now was his chance. A huge smirk on his face, Naruto leaned over the bed, taking a deep breath.

"HEY WAKE UP YOU DUMB BASTARD!!!"

The figure lying in bed sat up bolt right, startled out of his mind. After regaining his composure, Twisted turned to glare at the two genin in his room.

"What the hell is wrong with you!? You trying to give me a heart attack!?"

Naruto burst out laughing, pleased that his idea had worked out as well as he had hoped. Hinata smiled a little bit, more out of seeing Naruto so amused than for the rude awakening he had given Twisted. The man resisted the urge to pummel the younger boy but knew he wouldn't get away with it. The Anbu watched him during the night; right now there were two of them waiting just outside his door and one by the window in case he should try to leave in the middle of the night.

Sighing in frustration, Twisted sat up. "Let me guess, Tsunade has a mission for me and sent you to wake me up."

Hinata nodded timidly, "She wants you to see her right away along with Naruto-kun and myself."

Twisted sighed in frustration, "Fine, just let me get ready and I'll meet you brats outside."

Naruto and Hinata left, paying no mind to the Anbu posted outside the door. Twisted took into account each of them. The two at his front door were men, each about the same level in strength and speed whereas the one by the window was a woman who specialized in paralysis jutsu. A smirk came to Twisted's face; this was going to be interesting.

He threw a smoke bomb down, his entire room engulfed in a cloud of smoke. The Anbu woman by the window saw this and called for the other two. The three rushed into the room, ready for anything and everything Twisted may have in store for them. When the smoke cleared, they found him standing calmly in the center of the room fully dressed and smiling in amusement.

The female Anbu stepped forward, "What are you up to!? "

Twisted's smile grew, "I was just getting dressed. Just because you have to watch me all the time doesn't mean I have to strip in front of you. That and I wanted to mess with you a little."

He laughed and left, grabbing an apple to eat on his way to the Hokage's office. The three Anbu glared at him as he went out, all of them glad that they wouldn't have to see him again until nightfall.

Twisted joined up with Naruto and Hinata outside and followed them to Tsunade's office. Like in his apartment, an Anbu was keeping watch on Twisted, ready in case the rogue ninja tried something. They all got to the Hokage's office without incident, the Anbu waiting outside. Hinata and Naruto approached Tsunade at her desk while Twisted opted to lean against the wall, taking out his orange book and resuming from where he left off.

Tsunade finished up some paperwork she had been doing and turned her attention to the three. "I have a C-rank mission for the three of you. There are some important documents I need delivered to the land of Waterfalls. You'll bring them to a group of ninja from their village who'll meet you on the border so I'm sure you'll be back before sunset. Keep in mind these are highly important documents and they must not be delivered to anyone other than the group who will meet you at the border between our two lands. The leader will be a woman with a burn scar on her left thigh. She'll be the one you give them too."

Twisted turned the page in his book to the next one. Tsunade glared at him, her eye twitching in irritation.

"Would you pay attention!?"

Looking up from his book, Twisted returned Tsunade's glare, equally irritated at her. "Important documents, land of Waterfalls, meet other ninja at border and give the documents to some girl with a burn scar. I got it, now quit nagging me!"

Tsunade stood, slamming her palms onto her desk and cracking the wood. "How dare you speak to me that way! Try being grateful that I'm giving you missions at all! You should be sitting in a prison cell for the crimes you committed! And to think I actually felt sorry for you!"

"Who said I wanted your sympathy!? I don't need to be kept in this damn village of yours and I _don't_ need your charity! Why not just let me leave already, it's painfully obvious I'm not wanted here!"

Tsunade resisted the urge to strike him and managed to calm herself down. She looked back at Twisted with an almost sympathetic expression. "I can't do that. I can't just let you leave. You should understand why, after all you're…"

"Don't bother, I know what you're about to say and I don't want to hear it. I know who and what I am so don't remind me. Just tell me which jonin you're sticking me with so we can get this mission over with."

Tsunade sat back down, smirking "Actually I thought you should be in charge of the mission and also be the one to carry the documents."

The room went eerily silent. Naruto, Hinata and Twisted all stared at the Hokage, stunned. Surely she wasn't serious. She wouldn't even let Twisted use the public baths without someone tagging along to keep an eye on him and now she was putting him in charge of a mission? Sure it was just a simple C-rank mission but still, Twisted as team leader? It didn't take long for the silence to be shattered by none other than Naruto, who was clearly the most outraged at this. Big surprise.

"What!? Grandma you can't be serious! You can't put _him_ in charge of a mission, he'll…he'll try something!"

Twisted laughed, highly amused by the sudden opportunity presented to him. "Naruto's right. Who knows, maybe I'll make him slap Hinata on the butt again. We all know how much he hated having to do that."

Hinata blushed and Naruto turned to glare at Twisted, "Shut up!!"

Twisted smirked, "Oh come now, you know you liked having an excuse to do that and you liked actually doing it even more. You probably couldn't stop thinking about it afterwards, about how nice and…"

"I said shut up! I'm gonna kick your ass!"

Naruto lunged at the older man, but he caught the boy and flipped him over onto his back. Getting back up Naruto lunged again, but Twisted countered just as easily as he had done the first time. The blonde was going to make a third attempt but Tsunade, who was becoming highly irritated by all this, got up and gave both of them a strike in their thick skulls.

"Enough! Naruto, I knew you wouldn't like it but I didn't have much of a choice. We've been swamped with missions and all the jonin are out working on them. Just try to grin and bear it. And Twisted, I expect you to take this mission seriously as the leader. I'm trusting you, so don't you dare do anything to betray that, understand?"

Twisted rolled his eyes, "Relax, it's a C-rank mission. I _was_ a jonin so this won't be too difficult for me. Besides, I got these two so long as they don't mind following my orders."

Naruto crossed his arms and looked away from Twisted while Hinata fiddled with her fingers, her gaze towards the floor. Tsunade could tell neither genin was happy with the arrangements and hadn't expected them to be. Nevertheless she stood by her decision and hoped she was right to do it. It was almost time for them to head out, but first she needed to tell them one last thing.

"Actually, there's another genin that will be going with you three. She'll meet you at the front gates. Good luck to all of you on the mission, and Twisted…" Tsunade narrowed her eyes at him, "I meant what I said earlier. I'm trusting you; so don't fail me."

With that said she dismissed them. Twisted led Naruto and Hinata to the village gates where they would meet the other genin. They found her waiting by the front gates just like Tsunade had told them. She didn't appear much older than either Naruto or Hinata, dressed in a white shirt with a single red sleeve on the right side. There wasn't a sleeve for the other arm. She was also wearing black shorts and had her headband on her forehead. Her long black hair was tied up in a ponytail and she had red eyes. She introduced herself as Yuki, a student who had been held back at the academy and ended up graduating much later than the other students. Now with a full four person cell, they set off.

While they traveled, Hinata found herself staring at Yuki. She didn't remember having ever seen the girl when she had been at the academy and yet she had the strangest feeling that she knew the other girl. Naruto on the other hand didn't pay any attention to the new girl and focused almost entirely on Twisted. He knew he had no choice to follow his order's but if he sensed anything funny he was going to take Hinata and Yuki back to the village and report to Tsunade ASAP.

Time went by and they didn't experience any problems. When they reached the halfway point to their destination they stopped for a short break. Twisted went off to sit by himself and read while the other three ate. Hinata had packed a bento for her and Naruto to share while Yuki quietly ate some rice balls she had brought for the mission.

While they ate, Hinata tried to strike up a conversation with Yuki, still convinced she knew the girl from somewhere. Naruto listened to them, starting to take an interest in the girl as well.

"So, how come we've never seen you around the village? Or when we were at the academy?"

Yuki finished the last of her meal, "I contracted a severe illness before I could start at the academy. I spent a lot of my time in the hospital, lying in bed. But even though I couldn't train I spent my days studying and hoping I could get better soon. When Tsunade-sama returned to the village to become the fifth Hokage, she prepared a special medicine to aid my recovery. In a little under a month I was back to full health and spent as much time as I could after that training. I only just became a genin and was assigned this mission just this morning."

"Oh, I'm sorry to hear that. So this is your first actual mission as a genin?"

Yuki nodded, "I was surprised to find out it was a C-rank mission. I thought it was a mistake at first, but Tsunade-sama insisted I do it."

Naruto smiled, "Man, you must be pretty good if Grandma wanted you to be on a C-rank mission for your first one. You must know some awesome jutsu!"

"Well, I've been told I'm good with genjutsu. But other than that I still need to do a lot of work."

"Don't worry Yuki-san, I'm sure you'll be able to get lots of experience and become stronger."

"Hinata's right! If you work hard enough, you'll become a great ninja in no time! Just like me!"

Yuki giggled at Naruto, finding something funny about what the boy had said. Hinata joined in, although she didn't know why. From his place sitting against a tree, Twisted put away his book and got up.

"Sorry to interrupt, but it's time for us to get going. Break's over."

The four of them cleaned and packed up, ready to continue the mission. Once again Naruto had his eyes glued to Twisted, practically praying for him to try something. Little did he know he wasn't the only one who was staring at the rogue so intently. Yuki was keeping her eyes on him as well, almost giving him the same look Naruto was. Hinata took notice of this and remembered she had seen the other girl doing this before they had taken their little break. She could understand Naruto glaring at Twisted, but why was Yuki? Maybe she'd ask her after the mission was over.

The rest of the trip was fairly uneventful, the group reaching the border between the two lands. The other ninja team they were supposed to meet with and hand the documents over to wasn't there yet, so they had little choice but to wait patiently for them to arrive. Twisted passed the time by returning to his book, taking a seat on a large rock while he did so.

After a wait of nearly ten minutes the other team arrived. Just as Tsunade had said, their team leader was a woman. She had long black hair tied up in a braid and was dressed in a mesh shirt with a blue chunin vest and a dark blue skirt that went to her knees. Twisted put his book away and went up to her.

"You the one we're supposed to meet with?"

The woman nodded, "Yes, our village has eagerly been awaiting the arrival of these documents. We're very grateful that your village is allowing us to have them."

"Right, whatever. But before I hand them over, how am I sure you're the ones who were really sent to pick up the documents?"

"I understand, here…" She lifted up her skirt enough to show off a nasty burn scar on her right thigh. "As you can see, I'm the one mentioned in the mission request our village sent out. So if you please, the documents."

She held out her hand, patiently awaiting the deliverance of the documents. Twisted smirked and took a step back.

"Sorry, but I don't think I'll be handing them over after all."

The woman glared at him, seemingly outraged. She was about to voice a complaint, but Naruto beat her to it.

"I knew it! You never liked working for the village and now you're gonna take those documents yourself! Grandma Tsunade trusted you, you ass!"

Twisted turned to glare at Naruto, shutting him up. "Don't be an idiot, you idiot. Weren't you listening to what the Hokage said? The girl we're supposed to give the documents to has a burn scar on her thigh…her _left_ thigh. She has the scar on her right."

Naruto stared at Twisted a moment and then suddenly he remembered. Hinata also recalled that bit of information; the woman in front of them was an impostor. Her cover blown she smirked and the other three ninja with her vanished in a puff of smoke. They were clones disguised using a transformation jutsu.

"Fine you got me. I'm not the one you're supposed to meet. A little _accident_ delayed the real people you're looking for. But since I'm here and they aren't, why not just hand those documents over to me instead? I can even pay you for them. Quite handsomely I might add."

Twisted scoffed, "Yeah, sure. Hey here's an idea. _**NO!**_"

The woman frowned, not happy with the rude answer she had been given. Her eyes lit up when a new idea came to mind. She sauntered over to Twisted, smiling at him seductively.

"Well, if you don't want any money then how about me? I'll be more than happy to offer you my body in exchange for those documents you have handsome. I'll even let you do whatever you want with me."

Twisted pushed her away, "The only thing I'm going to do to you is kick your sorry ass if you don't get out of my sight! I'm not going to hand them over so forget it!"

He pulled out a kunai and flung it at her. She dodged and went to counter attack, but Twisted was gone. Looking around frantically the woman prepared herself for an attack from any direction. Sadly enough from her, she never would have anticipated an assault coming out of her own shadow.

An arm shot out from her shadow and grabbed her by the ankle. A second arm emerged as well, taking hold of her other ankle. She looked down in shock and fear as Twisted's head materialized from her shadow, a sinister sneer on his face.

"You should have run when you had the chance girlie. Now you're as good as dead. Not only can I sink into the shadows, but I can also pull people in with me. However if they don't have my Kekkei Genkai then whether they live or die is my choice. And unfortunately for you, I'm not feeling too merciful right now."

Letting out a dark laugh, Twisted began to sink back into the woman's shadow, taking her with him. As her feet vanished she let out a scream and struggled to escape. But it was in vain, as though she was caught in quicksand her struggling only made her sink faster. Or maybe it was just Twisted wanting to scare her a little before ending it.

It was at this time, to everyone's surprise that the woman vanished into thin air. Twisted reemerged from the shadows, completely stumped as to what had just happened. Yuki stepped forward, looking slightly disappointed.

"You pass. And here I was hoping you'd hand the documents over. I would have loved the chance to put you in your place."

Naruto and Hinata gawked at the girl, not understanding what was happening. Twisted however figured it out.

"I see, it was a genjutsu. So tell me, was that the real reason Tsunade wanted me to be the leader on this mission? To test me?"

Yuki nodded and then was enveloped in a puff of smoke. A moment later it cleared, revealing someone that they knew all too well.

"Kurenai-sensei!?"

"K-Kurenai-sensei!?!!?!"

Twisted scoffed, "Figures you'd be the one keeping an eye on me. Let me guess, you wanted to be the one to be there if I screwed up. Just so you could have the satisfaction of being right about me being a no good waste of space."

"Actually Tsunade-sama insisted I be the one to watch you on the mission, something about trying to trust you. Although you're right about me wanting to watch you fail. I…"

She drifted off, her gaze turning towards the surrounding forest. They weren't alone. Twisted also noticed the other presence, putting aside what would have without a doubt turned into an all out argument with Kurenai.

"Perhaps we should finish this later. It seems we should get back to the village as soon as possible."

Kurenai nodded in agreement. Twisted threw down a smoke bomb and together the four of them began running back to the village.

TBC

Okay, first off I am SO sorry for keeping you waiting this long for this chapter. I got slammed with school work including three projects all due around the same time. Now I'm currently working on another four projects, three of which are all due the same day next week. So it may take a while to get the next chapter up too. Sorry again.


	3. Chapter 3

Now that my classes are finally over I have had plenty of time to write. So here's the next chapter, I hope it's as good as I think it is. Just a little warning: it gets a bit graphic toward the end of this chapter.

Chapter 3)

Twisted, Kurenai, Naruto and Hinata ran through the trees, heading back toward the village. Neither of the two older ninja could sense anyone following them, but knew that whoever it was, they were still out there and had a malicious intent. Hinata had activated her Byakugan, keeping a look out for anyone coming their way. Naruto was right behind Hinata with the jonin and chunin behind them in case their enemy caught up with them.

A good distance ahead of them Hinata saw a figure standing in their path. "There's somebody up ahead!"

Being the next closest to her, Naruto was the first of the other three to see the person. They were still too far to see just who it was, but they were close enough for Naruto to see that he was wearing a black cloak with red clouds on it. There were only two people that Naruto could think of who wore that. Itachi Uchiha and Kisame Hoshigaki; members of the Akatsuki. And since this person didn't appear to have blue skin, it had to be Itachi. Feeling enraged as he remembered his last encounter with the older Uchiha, Naruto sped forward past Hinata and towards Itachi.

Hinata saw Naruto take off and went after him, "Naruto-kun wait!"

Kurenai and Twisted watched the blonde take off with Hinata following him. They cursed under their breath and went to catch up with the two genin as they entered a clearing in the forest, but weren't able to get far before another person in a black cloak with red clouds came out and blocked their path. Recognizing it as the same presence they had felt earlier, they immediately prepared themselves for battle.

The figure swung a large, bandaged covered sword at them. The two leapt back and avoided it. The large blade struck the ground and kicked up a cloud of dust. When the dust cleared they got a better look at their assailant. He was tall with blue skin, dark blue hair and shark-like facial features including shark-like teeth. It was none other than Kisame Hoshigaki, whom Kurenai remembered from that last time they had met in the village.

The swordsman smirked at them, "And just where are the two of you going?"

Kurenai pulled out a kunai and stood her ground, waiting for Kisame to make his move. Behind her, Twisted stepped forward, onto her shadow. He kept his voice just above a whisper, relaying a plan to the jonin.

"Kurenai, I'll create an opening for you. When I do, I want you to go back to the village and get help. I'll hold him off as long as I can."

"What about Naruto and Hinata?"

"I'll catch up with them and take care of them. You just worry about getting back to get reinforcements."

Twisted quickly sank into Kurenai's shadow and almost immediately reappeared out of Kisame's. He flew out of the shadow leg first and kicked upwards, striking Kisame in the chin and knocking him backwards. Kurenai took off the second Twisted's foot had struck Kisame. By the time Kisame had recovered from the surprise attack Kurenai had covered a considerable distance already. Kisame cursed and went after her, but didn't get very far before Twisted flung a pair of kunai at him. Sensing the attack, Kisame turned around and blocked the projectiles with his sword.

Twisted charged forward, "I'm your opponent you freak!" He pulled out a large shuriken, roughly a meter long in diameter, from his shadow and threw it at Kisame. The rogue mist nin swung his sword and destroyed the shuriken before it could reach him. However he had been so distracted in keeping the weapon from hitting him that he failed to notice that Twisted had sunk into the shadow of the shuriken the second he had thrown it. It was only when he came flying out of Kisame's shadow again that the Akatsuki member realized what happened. Unlike the previous time however, Kisame managed to dodge and follow it up with a counter attack. Twisted leapt back just in time before the massive sword came down in a swing that would have killed him.

Kisame lifted his sword back up from the gash it made in the ground and rested it against his shoulder. "It looks like I can't afford to take my eye off you for a second, huh kid?"

"Got that right! Not that it'll help you. My attacks can come from anywhere I want, so letting your guard down around me can prove fatal."

The Akatsuki member laughed, "Nice bluff, but I'm not buying it. I know all about how your little trick works. For starters you _need_ at least two separate shadows to use it and you can't use your own aside from storing weapons. Second you can't sink into a shadow that's smaller than your own and you can't hide anything in your shadow that is collectively bigger than it. Finally in this clearing the only shadow aside from your own is mine, so I'll always know where you're going to attack from."

Twisted cursed silently under his breath before turning his attention back to Kisame, "So what you know how my kekkei genkai works. It's not a surprise really, not since that bastard Orochimaru was a member of your little organization. Let me guess, when he was still with you guys you were able to look at his research notes and other stuff, right?"

"Yup, and our leader kept track of what Orochimaru was up to, so we know all about you along with any other people he's had his eyes on. But don't worry; we aren't going to try anything like what Orochimaru had planned for you. Actually someone like you would be a nice addition to the group. We do need to replace Orochimaru and you are a rogue ninja with a kekkei genkai of a clan that no longer exists."

"A tempting offer, but no I'd rather not. Haven't you heard? The leaf village already called dibs on me, not that I like it."

Kisame laughed, "You? Working for the leaf village? I thought you had a grudge against them."

"Yeah I do, but not like the grudge I have against the Akatsuki! In case you forgot, it's Orochimaru I want to kill and the last time I saw him he was with you freaks!"

Twisted performed a few hand signs and held out his right arm. Ice began to materialize from the moisture in the air and take form. It collected and grew into a large shuriken, which Twisted began to spin. He threw three kunai, each with a paper bomb on it at Kisame. Kisame jumped backwards to avoid the explosions as the bombs set off and Twisted prepared his attack.

"Subzero shuriken, windmill of ice! Now you die!"

He flung the shuriken at Kisame, the Akatsuki member unable to dodge while in midair. It sliced through him, cutting him in half. The two body halves melted and were reduced to water which fell to the ground. Twisted cursed under his breath; it was a substitution jutsu. He checked his surroundings, not letting his guard down. Kisame's next attack could come from anywhere.

Kisame's sword suddenly erupted from the ground and surged toward Twisted. The blade cleaved through the earth as though it were wet tissue at an alarming speed. Twisted just barely managed to dodge the attack in time. Kisame's sword continued to slice through the ground until it struck a tree and cut it down the middle. Kisame emerged from the ground and grabbed the two halves of the tree, hurling them at Twisted.

Twisted formed another series of hand signs and stood his ground. "Ice style: Frozen Blade Storm!"

Once more freezing moisture in the air, Twisted created a variety of ice blades around himself. The blades began whirling around him at a high speed, creating a blue whirlwind with him in the center. The tree halves were torn to shreds when they reached Twisted, chunks and splinters of wood flying everywhere. The whirlwind subsided and Twisted leapt up, grabbing one of the larger pieces of the tree and threw it at Kisame. He used his sword to shred it to pieces and lunged at his opponent. Twisted remained still and let the large sword come down on him. The blade struck and splattered water all over the place; a substitution jutsu.

Sensing an attack coming from behind, Kisame turned and swung his blade. Twisted ducked and sunk into the sword's shadow. Kisame remained still, waiting for the attack to come. Nothing, Twisted was hiding in the shadow. Unknown to Kisame, a flash bomb appeared from out of his own shadow. It went off, blinding him and allowing Twisted a moment of opportunity. He reemerged from the shadow and struck Kisame with and uppercut and followed it with a kick to the chest. The swordsman stumbled backwards, still temporarily blinded.

Taking further advantage of his opponent's impaired vision, Twisted closed in for another punch to the face. Then he stuck a paper bomb onto Kisame's sword and leapt back. Kisame may not have been able to see, but he was still able to hear pretty well. The sound of the paper igniting was all he needed to know he needed to ditch his sword and fast. He threw it in the direction he assumed Twisted had gone in and not even ten seconds later the paper bomb blew up.

Fortunately for him, Twisted had foreseen this and had nimbly stepped to the side, the massive sword hurtling past him and leaving not even a scratch. He couldn't help but grin, even though his attempt to blow up Kisame hadn't worked out at least now he didn't have his weapon. Plus he was still blinded so that made things all the easier. The only way things could have gotten any better was if the sword had been destroyed by the bomb. But it had somehow remained undamaged after the blast; must've been made with a very sturdy material.

Kisame clenched his teeth, realizing he hadn't been successful in killing Twisted. "You're really starting to piss me off!"

"Can't say I blame you. If I was doing as miserably as you then I'd be mad too. It's no wonder you Akatsuki members travel in pairs, when you're alone you're nothing special. Maybe you shouldn't have left your partner, fish-face."

"Heh, not that it's any of your business but my partner is busy handling those two brats who took off. I was just supposed to keep you and that woman from interfering."

"What!? Crap, I should have known this was too easy! You wanted me to get overconfident and forget what I was doing weren't you!?"

Kisame chuckled, "Don't sell yourself short brat, I didn't think you'd be able to pull off half the stuff you've done so far. Not that it matters, I'm gonna take you serious now." He stood straight and rubbed his eyes. "Finally, I can see again."

----------

Meanwhile Naruto found himself facing off against Itachi. The older boy had led him to a secluded area near the base of a cliff. Hinata had fallen behind at some point and had lost them.

Naruto glared daggers at Itachi. He could feel the Kyubi's chakra flaring up within him, begging to be released; to be used. Itachi remained indifferent to Naruto's gaze and merely stood there, waiting for the boy to make a move. As he predicted, Naruto lunged at him without thinking out what he was actually going to do. Itachi sidestepped and grabbed Naruto's arm and threw him to the ground. He took hold of Naruto's leg and placed his foot firmly on the boy's backside. With a single yank, Itachi pulled Naruto's leg free of its socket, the blonde screaming in pain.

Itachi released the dislocated limb and kicked Naruto onto his back, looking down at him. "That was surprisingly easy. One would think that the jinchuriki containing the Kyubi would be more of a challenge. But I suppose I shouldn't complain. After all, I didn't have to waste any chakra on you."

He picked Naruto up by the collar and held back his other hand. "However, it would be troublesome if you were to call on the Kyubi's chakra to heal yourself. Five Pronged Seal!"

Itachi stuck Naruto in the abdomen, sealing away the only hope Naruto had of getting back into the fight. Now with a useless leg and no way to obtain the Kyubi's chakra, he was in a lot of trouble. Plus, like the last time he had been hit with the Five Pronged Seal, Naruto was losing consciousness from the immense drain that he felt from it.

As the world went dark, Naruto saw a figure jump out from the trees. The person called out his name, Naruto just barely able to recognize who it was as his consciousness slipped away.

"Hinata..."

He said no more and passed out. Hinata looked down at him with fear and concern and then back up at the man who was responsible.

"What do you want with Naruto-kun!?"

"That is none of your concern. Leave now, I don't have time to waste on a child like you."

Hinata glared at him and stood her ground, "I'm not going to let you get away! Not after what you did to Naruto-kun!"

She charged at the older man, readying herself to strike him with a gentle fist attack. Itachi caught her by the wrist and twisted her arm behind her back. Grabbing her ninja tools pouch, he threw it aside and then shoved her to the ground. Hinata got back to her feet and went to strike Itachi again. Like before he grabbed her and kept her from landing the attack. Hinata could only wince in pain as she felt his vice-like grip tighten on her arm once more. She knew he was much more powerful than her, but she wasn't going to let that stop her from protecting Naruto.

----------

Back with Kisame and Twisted, the tide of the battle had turned. Kisame was now on the full offensive, Twisted barely able to keep dodging and even that he was just barely able to do. Kisame sneered at his opponent, swinging his sword again and again.

"What's the matter? What happened to all that talk earlier? It isn't so easy now that I'm taking you seriously, eh brat?"

Twisted dodged the massive blade once more and glared at his opponent. "Don't flatter yourself. I'm just busy trying to think of a way to get past you and go after your partner. That's all."

"Ha! You really think that you'll be able to escape me? Even if you did, you wouldn't get far. I'd find you and finish you off. That is if Itachi doesn't do it first. Besides, in case you forgot already, there aren't any shadows large enough for you to use other than my own. And we both know you need two shadows for that jutsu of yours to work properly."

"I think I know my own Kekkei Genkai better than you. Yeah, so I need at least two shadows that have the same volume of my shadow or greater for me to use the shadow-stalker jutsu. And I can't always have the luxury of there being ample shadows around." He reached into his ninja tools pouch and pulled out a smoke bomb, "That's what this little baby is for."

Kisame laughed, "A smoke bomb!? Those don't even come close to making a shadow! And I'm not fool enough to let something like that stop me from fighting you. I know the Hidden Mist Jutsu just so you know and I don't need my sense of sight to kill an opponent."

Twisted smirked, "This isn't an ordinary smoke bomb. It creates a cloud of dense smoke similar to that which is emitted by a volcanic eruption. In other words, it makes smoke dark enough to blot out the sunlight."

He threw the bomb down, setting it off. A pitch black cloud erupted and quickly filled the surrounding area, including the air above. Vision almost immediately dropped to zero as the cloud surrounded the two. Twisted quickly sank into the shadow cast by the cloud and was gone. Kisame coughed and leapt out of the cloud, only to see how immense it was. It easily filled over half the clearing that he had been fighting Twisted in, meaning that the man had definitely escaped.

The cloud didn't last long, dispersing not even thirty seconds after it had emitted from the smoke bomb. Kisame cursed, not knowing which way Twisted could have gone.

"Let's see, if I remember correctly. He can only go as far as 30 meters at a time and he needs to know where he's going. So he won't be able to find Itachi right away. I might even be able to get there before he does."

Kisame set out to meet with Itachi, knowing that Twisted would most likely be heading in that direction.

---------

Hinata's head struck the cliff side, Itachi having thrown her aside like a rag doll. She fell to the ground in a heap, her head sustaining a nasty injury. Itachi grabbed Naruto's unconscious body and went to leave, but a kunai flew by his head, cutting off a couple hairs.

Itachi turned to see Hinata back on her feet, although she had a small gash on her forehead with some blood trickling out.

"You're still standing. Impressive, but foolish. Lie back down and you won't have to suffer any more."

"No! Let Naruto-kun go! I won't stop fighting you until he's safe!"

She charged forward again, determined to save Naruto. Itachi sighed and tossed Naruto on the ground, turning to face the girl. He waited until she was close enough and then punched her in the stomach. Hinata felt like all the air in her lungs had been forced out by the blow. Itachi grabbed her by her collar and hoisted her into her air, looking into her eyes.

"It seems as though you're rather fond of Naruto. I think I may actually pity you. He isn't long for this world, hopefully this will help you cope with his death when the time comes. Mangekyo Sharingan: Tsukoyomi Nightmare Realm!"

The world began to change. It turned to night, a full moon high in the black void of the sky. Everything was bathed in an eerie red light and Hinata found herself free of Itachi's grasp, but still unable to move. On the ground not too far from her was Naruto. Hinata tried to call out to him, but couldn't seem to open her mouth. She was frozen in place, unable to do anything but look forward at Naruto's unconscious form. Out of the corner of her eye she saw Itachi walk up to the boy, a katana in his hand.

Hinata watched in horror, unable to look away, not even capable of closing her eyes, as Itachi drove the blade into Naruto's chest. Her heart stopped as she saw blood pooling around the boy's now lifeless body. She wanted to cry, but she couldn't even do that. The only thing she could do was stand there, her heart aching from the loss of the boy she loved.

Just when she thought things couldn't get worse, she saw Naruto get up. Perfectly fine. Joy and relief flooded through her, but were cut short when Itachi swung the katana and lopped of Naruto's head. Once more, Naruto had died in front of her. That's when she noticed that the body vanished and then Naruto simply appeared out of thin air, alive and well. Like the last time, Itachi wasted no time in killing Naruto again. This time taking a kunai knife and slitting Naruto's throat. Blood spurted out from the wound and spattered on Hinata's face. It was still warm, being fresh from the once living body of Naruto.

Itachi continued to kill Naruto over and over again in front of Hinata for what felt like eternity to the girl. At one point he turned to look at her, an indifferent tone in his voice.

"Only seventy one hours, fifty-nine minutes and fifty-nine seconds left to go. I hope you're enjoying it so far."

Hinata felt her heart freeze. One second? Only one second had passed? But it had definitely been longer than that. She didn't know how she was going to be able to tolerate any more of this. Itachi resumed his murdering of Naruto again, seeming to kill him a new way each time, Hinata watching albeit very reluctantly.

While Hinata had to endure a full seventy-two hours in Itachi's jutsu, only a single second passed in the real world. She collapsed in a heap on the ground, out cold. Itachi retrieved Naruto, heading off once more. He sensed on oncoming attack from the trees and took a defensive stance just in time. Twisted leapt out from the shadow off a tree and swung his fist at Itachi. The Uchiha prepared to block but was surprised when Twisted missed intentionally. He overshot his attack and instead grabbed Naruto from Itachi's grasp.

Twisted landed a short distance from the Akatsuki member and set Naruto down. "Sorry, but I got a bit of a personal score to settle with this brat. So I hope you don't mind me taking him back from you."

"You intend to fight me?"

"No, I intend to kill you."

"Very well, but I believe you have some unfinished business with Kisame first."

Twisted didn't have time to think over what Itachi meant when Kisame came out from the trees and swung his blade. Barely sensing the attack in time, Twisted went to dodge at the last second. But he was a little too late, he avoided a fatal blow, but the blade still hit him. It scraped across his abdomen, shredding away the skin and exposing the muscle beneath. Twisted placed his hand on the wound, both to keep pressure on it as well as to hold his guts in. The blood loss immediately took his toll on him, having to stumble back against the cliff side and sink down. Kisame smirked, content with his achievement.

Itachi stepped forward, "From the looks of that wound, you'll bleed to death. But I'd rather not take any chances. It would be troublesome if Orochimaru were to capture you a second time."

He closed in to kill the downed man, but stopped when he saw Twisted smiling. Kisame scowled at him, not liking the look on his face.

"You're about to die, what's so funny about it!?"

Twisted laughed a bit, blood beginning to ooze out his mouth. "I never thought I'd be happy to see the two of you. Lady Tsunade, Lord Jiraiya."

Itachi and Kisame then noticed two very powerful presences along with several others. They found themselves surrounded by Anbu Black ops, Tsunade and Jiraiya standing in front of them. Kurenai was there as well, hurrying to Hinata's side when she saw the girl was down.

The two Akatsuki members assessed their situation and slowly stepped back. Itachi looked at his partner out of the corner of his eye.

"Kisame, you let Kurenai get past you?"

"Sorry, but that damn brat caught me off guard. I didn't expect to have two of the sannin show up."

"Never mind that now, we can't afford to waste any more time here. The Kyubi will have to wait."

The two vanished, Tsunade turning to the black ops. "Spread out and find them!"

They all went off to search for the two rogue nins while Tsunade checked on Naruto, Hinata and Twisted.

"Jiraiya you and Kurenai take Naruto and Hinata back to the village. Bring them to the hospital and have them treated. I need to stay here and treat Twisted immediately. He's lost a lot of blood and his abdominal cavity is at risk of splitting open."

They nodded and did as instructed, Kurenai taking Hinata and Jiraiya picking up Naruto. As they rushed the two genin to the hospital, Tsunade started to heal the wound on Twisted's abdomen before bringing him to the hospital as well. The three were out for the night but least they had all come out alive.

TBC.

Okay, so a bit of a cliffhanger here. Don't worry, Hinata and Naruto will be okay. Although I do plan on exploiting what's happened here for the rest of the story. You'll see next chapter, until then I hope you enjoyed this one.


	4. Chapter 4

Back with the next part. Now I know some of you may not have been too pleased with the way Hinata was treated last chapter. I know I've been mean to her, but no more. She's getting some very special treatment for the hell I've put her through and in my opinion, it's about damn time. And just so you know, like the last chapter, this one will be a bit graphic at the end.

Chapter 4)

When they had gotten to the hospital the first thing that Tsunade had done was treat Hinata's head wound. While she was doing that she discovered she was in the same condition that both Kakashi and Sasuke had been in after their own respective counters with Itachi. She did the best she could, but since Hinata did not possess the Sharingan like Kakashi or Sasuke, she wasn't sure how well things would turn out.

Both Twisted and Naruto were in better condition. Naruto's leg was fixed and Jiraiya removed the Five Pronged Seal. Twisted's abdomen was healed up nicely but Tsunade made him spend the night at the hospital along with Naruto. He had somehow ended up in the same room as Hinata, and Naruto was just down the hall.

Everyone had been worried when they had heard what had happened. Well, worried about Naruto and Hinata. No one aside from Tsunade and Jiraiya seemed to give a damn about the well being of Twisted, although Kurenai had told the other jonin about how he faced off against Kisame alone. At least they seemed to hate him a little less.

Currently Twisted was sleeping in his bed and Hinata had yet to wake up. It was early afternoon and Sakura was doing some rounds at the hospital. It wasn't so bad, although she had to deal with Naruto trying to sneak out so he could have some ramen at Ichiraku's. In the end she had agreed to have some delivered for him if he'd shut up and lie back down. Other than that, it was pretty quiet.

A small group of visitors had gathered in Hinata's room, all worried about her and hoping she'd wake up soon. The group consisted of Neji, Kiba, Kurenai and Shino. Hiashi had been there earlier but couldn't afford to stay all day. Even though he disliked it, he had to return to the Hyuga compound. Before he had left he had ordered Neji to inform him if Hinata woke up.

Time passed and everyone found their own way to pass the time. Neji and Kurenai sat patiently at Hinata's bedside, Shino stood by the window, and Kiba paced the floor. Minutes seemed to pass by as though they were hours; the only sound in the room was the sound of breathing.

Morning became afternoon, the visitors in the room coming and going, needing to stretch their legs and get fresh air. But they didn't leave the hospital, wanting to be at Hinata's side. It was not long past three in the afternoon when Hinata stirred. The simple action of her opening her eyes gaining the attention of every one of her visitors. Kurenai was at her bedside first, overcome with joy at seeing Hinata conscious.

"Hinata, you're awake! How do you feel?"

The Hyuga girl sat up, looking around the room. She saw her teammates, cousin and sensei. But she didn't see the person she was looking for.

"Naruto-kun. Where's Naruto-kun?"

Kurenai place her hands on Hinata's shoulder reassuringly, "He's alright Hinata. He's just down the hall."

Hinata didn't seem to hear her and looked around the room again frantically. Still not seeing the boy, she began to panic. Trying to think of where he could be, she suddenly remembered the things she had seen when Itachi had used the Mangekyo Sharingan on her. Unable to think clearly, she assumed the images she had seen were real and that Naruto was dead. Her eyes shot wide open in fear and then filled with tears. She began to sob, startling the others.

"Where's Naruto-kun!? I want my Naruto-kun! Give me back my Naruto-kun!!!"

Kurenai tried to calm Hinata down, but the girl continued to bawl and call out for the blonde boy. After a minute Twisted, who had been woken up by the noise, let out a frustrated cry and got out of his bed. He left the room and returned a moment later, dragging Naruto with him.

"Here! Now stop crying and let me get back to sleep!"

Twisted shoved Naruto towards Hinata; the boy stumbling and falling onto her bed. Hinata stopped crying out of surprise from the boy practically landing in her lap. She stared at him in disbelief, as though she couldn't accept that he was alive and right in front of her.

Naruto got up, grumbling and cursing Twisted beneath his breath. The next thing he knew, Hinata threw her arms around him and buried her head in his chest. She started to cry again, but this time out of joy. She calmed back down after a minute and just kept resting her head on his chest. Naruto felt a little awkward but wrapped his arms around her in a gentle hug. Hinata let out a coo, smiling and nuzzling him.

The others looked at the two in amusement, Kurenai thinking it was the cutest thing ever. Twisted sighed, not feeling tired anymore.

"So much for sleeping. I'll go find Tsunade and tell her Hinata's awake."

Leaving the room again he went to find the older woman. She wasn't in the hospital and when he tried to leave a nurse stopped him. Pushing her aside he stepped onto her shadow and sank into it. He popped his head out from the shadow from Tsunade's desk a moment later and told her Hinata was awake. He then returned to the hospital, emerging from the shadow of the same nurse, startling the woman. Laughing at her reaction, Twisted returned to the hospital room he shared with Hinata and climbed back onto his bed.

Tsunade had rushed over as quickly as she could, arriving in a matter of minutes. Kurenai told her how Hinata had acted after she had woken up. Checking Hinata real quick showed that she was physically fine, but between the blow to the head and the affects of Itachi's jutsu had left her a bit unstable mentally.

"When I treated Kakashi he came out alright because he has the sharingan and was able to handle Itachi's jutsu better. But Hinata doesn't have the sharingan so I didn't know what to expect. I believe that, along with the concussion she received before Itachi cast his genjutsu on her, has affected her much worse than it had Kakashi."

Kurenai looked down at her feet, disheartened at hearing the news. "Will she be alright? I mean, you can heal her right?"

"Yes, but it will take several sessions to do. Like I said it isn't a physical wound, but a mental one. Plus the concussion may or may not have resulted in minor brain damage, but I can take care of that easily. Although it will have to take precedence over the other treatment if that is the case. If I put it off too long it may be too late to undo the damage."

A look of relief came to Kurenai's face. She knew if anyone was capable of helping Hinata, it would be Tsunade. Now knowing that she was going to be alright, everyone seemed a little more relaxed. Neji sat next to the bed, telling Hinata he was going to go and get her father and how worried they had been.

Sakura poked her head into the room, looking around. Spotting Naruto she entered and walked up to him.

"There you are. I've been looking for you. You're ramen order is here; it's in your room."

Naruto's face broke out into a wide grin. "Alright, I'm starving!" Pushing away from Hinata, he got up and started to leave. Hinata didn't like Naruto suddenly getting up and taking off like that. The look on her face was similar to that of a small child who had just had their favorite stuffed toy stolen right out of their hands. She got up and threw herself at Naruto, knocking them both to the floor.

"No! Don't go! Don't leave me again!"

Fresh tears fell from her eyes, leaving a bewildered Naruto trying to figure out what he had done wrong. Sakura took one look at what had occurred and then looked up at the others with a raised eyebrow.

"What's with Hinata? Is she alright?"

Tsunade turned to her student, "Well, to sum it up Hinata is emotionally and mentally fragile after the incident with Itachi. She woke up crying because Naruto wasn't around and she doesn't seem to want him to leave her side. Probably wants him nearby as a form of emotional support."

Over on his bed, Twisted sat up again; a curious look on his face. "Actually I think it might be something else. Let me try something out." He got up and walked over to Naruto so that his shadow was next to the boy. Looking at Hinata, he pointed outside the window.

"Hinata, would you look over there for a moment, please?"

She did as he asked of her, turning to look out the window. The second she was looking the other way, Twisted forced Naruto into his shadow, the boy letting out a short cry as he disappeared. Hinata turned back when she heard him, but saw nothing in the spot he had been in just a second before. Starting to become upset again, she looked up at Twisted.

"What happened to Naruto-kun?!"

Twisted smirked at her sadistically. "I killed him. Couldn't stand looking at his face any longer."

Everyone looked at him in shock. Aside from Tsunade, no one really understood how Twisted's kekkei genkai worked, so they thought he had actually killed Naruto. What they didn't know was that Naruto was alive and well; trapped inside Twisted's shadow. They all glared at him, some ready to attack him. But Hinata looked the most upset. She turned her head from side to side, in denial that Naruto was truly gone.

"No…no…You're lying! Give him back! Give me back my Naruto-kun!"

She started to cry again, throwing herself at the older man and pounding her fists against his chest. Twisted pushed her aside and knelt down, reaching into his shadow. A moment later he pulled out Naruto and stood back up. The blonde boy looked up at him, enraged.

"You jerk! What the hell did you do that for!?" He stood up, clenching his fist. "I oughta kick you're aaaahhh!"

While he had been occupied yelling at Twisted, Naruto hadn't seen Hinata tackle him from behind. With tears of joy in her eyes, Hinata held Naruto tight and buried her head in his chest. Twisted smiled, satisfied his theory had been right.

"You sure you don't want to rethink what you said earlier Tsunade?"

Tsunade nodded, "I see what you were trying to do. It isn't that Hinata wants Naruto by her side. It's that she thinks he's been taken from her when he isn't in sight. Itachi's jutsu must've affected her worse than I first thought." She closed her eyes and thought a moment. Hinata had panicked when she had woken up and Naruto wasn't in the room. Then she had tackled him to the ground when he tried to leave. Finally she had thrown a fit when she had thought Twisted had killed him.

So far Hinata couldn't stand the idea of Naruto not being in the same as her or even just trying to leave her side. The only question was how long would this last? Would she eventually get over it and not mind Naruto's absence or would Naruto have to remain by her side until she was better? There really wasn't any accurate way to tell so for the time being it looked like it would be best to have Naruto stay at the hospital a little longer than he needed. After all, Hinata seemed much more calm and content with him around. That would make the healing sessions much easier for her if she could keep the girl calm and happy.

"Naruto, I'm going to have you stay in this room with Hinata until she is better. I'd also like you to help take care of her since she seems so fond of being by your side."

"Huh? But, what about my training? And missions?"

Tsunade sighed. Naruto wasn't going to like this. "For the time being I'm not going to send you on any missions and you'll have to hold off on your training."

"What!? That isn't fair! Just because Hinata isn't better yet I gotta stay in the hospital with her and can't train or go on missions!? That sucks! I want to leave!"

Hinata looked up at him, hurt. "You…you want to leave me? Is it because you can't go on missions anymore because of me?"

"Wha..? No! it isn't that. I just don't want to have to stay cooped up in this hospital with you until you're better."

Naruto's attempt to explain himself didn't seem to make Hinata feel any better. She started to sniffle, thinking that the boy was angry with her. Sakura smacked Naruto on the back of his head, glaring down at him.

"Naruto you idiot, look what you did! Didn't you hear Lady Tsunade just say that Hinata is emotionally fragile right now!?"

Holding his hand to the sore spot on his head, Naruto saw that Hinata did look upset from what he said. Feeling a pang of guilt he stuttered out an apology.

"I'm sorry Hinata, I didn't mean it that way! I don't mind keeping you company while you're here at the hospital. I just wish grandma would let me go out to train a little at least. Please don't start crying again."

Hinata laid back in his arms, not saying anything. She seemed alright with his apology, but still a little hurt by hearing what he had said before. Tsunade shook her head at the boy. He had a long way to go as far as understanding a woman's feelings were concerned.

"Well, we'll see how Hinata's treatments progress and depending on the results I'll let you head out to train for a little each day once she starts to recover. But for now I need you to help me out by keeping an eye on her and keeping her company. I'm going to start by finishing healing her concussion. So I'd like it if you got her off the floor and back in her bed."

Naruto nodded and stood up, trying to get Hinata to stand as well. She didn't seem too keen on leaving Naruto's arms so he had to pick her up bridal style and carry her to bed. He laid her down gently and sat on the edge of the bed, holding her hand. Tsunade made a couple hand signs and placed her hand on Hinata's forehead. A calming green glow enveloped her hand, the healing process beginning. A minute later she pulled her hand back, smiling at her success.

"Feel better now Hinata?"

The girl gave a nod and turned onto her side, her gaze falling on Naruto. While she stared at him happily, Tsunade turned to Twisted.

"You should be fine with just a little more rest so you're free to go. Also as a result of your mission, along with your encounter with the Akatsuki, I've decided to not only stop monitoring you with the Anbu black ops., but to also restore you to jonin rank as well."

Twisted scoffed, "What is that supposed to be a 'thank you' or something? If you really want to do something nice for me then let me leave this damn village! I can't stand being here any longer. Just let me leave already!"

Tsunade sighed and looked at the man sympathetically. "I'm sorry, but you know I can't let you do that. I just want to help you Twisted…"

"Who the hell said I wanted your help!? I just want this village to leave me alone now! It's obvious since I've been caught by you that I can't hope to continue my plans from before so just let me leave!"

"I told you, I can't do that! Orochimaru is still out there!"

"Well maybe if the Third Hokage wasn't such a soft hearted fool he would have killed the bastard when he found out he was practicing forbidden jutsu! And because he didn't the snake ran off and now he's performing his sick little experiments on the ninja of other villages! How can you act so calm knowing your village let a psycho like him out into the world and has, as a result, caused countless deaths, including entire clans…_**just…like…mine!!!**_"

In a fit of rage he stormed off, not wanting to discuss the matter further. Tsunade looked down at her feet, just as angry but knowing that yelling back at him wouldn't change the truth. The others had watched the scene in silence, unsure of what was going on between the rogue and the Hokage. Naruto was the first to speak after the older man had left.

"What a jerk! Couldn't he be a little more grateful? Grandma Tsunade saved his life and even went and made him a jonin again! What the hell is his problem?!"

Tsunade turned to give Naruto a quick glare, "That's enough Naruto. I can understand why you don't like Twisted's attitude but I honestly can't blame him for it. Although I wish he'd stop hating the whole village and just hate Jiraiya and myself. After all, in a way it's our fault that he's stuck in the village in the first place."

"Huh? What are you talking about grandma?"

The older woman sat down and faced the others. "The reason Twisted hates being in this village and has a grudge towards it, is because of Orochimaru. As you know he lived and was raised in the village and even learned to become a shinobi under the third Hokage's tutelage along with Jiraiya and myself. But when he was discovered killing off villagers and other leaf village shinobi to practice his jutsu on, he ran off. The third Hokage had a chance to stop him, but that meant he'd have to kill him. He couldn't bring himself to kill his own student, so he let Orochimaru go. Jiraiya went after him, much like you did with Sasuke, Naruto. But he only ended up failing as well. Orochimaru left the village and continued his research elsewhere."

Naruto tilted his head in confusion, "Okay, but what does that have to do with Twisted?"

"Orochimaru is obsessed with learning and creating new jutsu. He believes the more jutsu you know the stronger you are. So naturally one must understand that there are some jutsu that one can't learn. Kekkei genkai are an obvious example. But Orochimaru won't let that stop him. He gets hold of ninja from clans that have kekkei genkai and either studies them to learn about the jutsu or use the body of the ninja as his own. Twisted has a rare kekkei genkai from what was a small clan. The only remaining members were him and his father until ten years ago. That's when Orochimaru kidnapped Twisted and his parents."

_-Flashback, ten years ago-_

_ "From what we learned when we probed his mind, he was an only child living in the village hidden in the mist with his mother and father. Orochimaru had his followers take them away in the dead of night, easily overpowering any opposition in the way. As an added precaution Twisted and his mother were held hostage to keep his father, an elite jonin, from trying anything. Once inside his hideout, Orochimaru locked them up and began his experiments."_

Twelve year old Twisted sat in a small cell, hugging his knees to his chest in fear. His mother and father had been taken away, leaving him all alone. In the next room he could hear voices, his father and Orochimaru. It seemed as though his father was threatening the sannin, ordering him to let them go. Twisted got up and went to the cell door. He was just tall enough to peek through the small, barred window that was in it.

He could see his father, a mid thirty version of himself with toned muscles and short, black hair. The man was glaring at Orochimaru, the only thing keeping him from attacking the man was the fact that his wife was currently in another room being held hostage by Orochimaru's men.

"I'm only going to say this once you bastard; let me and my family go! Or else I'll see to it you die a slow and unbearably painful death!"

Orochimaru chuckled, unfazed by what the other man had said. "Go ahead, attack me. You'll be lucky to last ten seconds and while you're occupied with me, your lovely wife will be killed. Are you sure you don't want to reconsider?"

Twisted's father clenched his fist but then calmed himself. "Fine. What the hell do you want with us anyway?!"

"It isn't your woman and brat that I'm concerned with. It's you, or rather your clan's kekkei genkai. Its seems like such a useful jutsu and I'd love to learn more about it."

_"Orochimaru made it clear what was to be done. He'd perform a series of experiments on Twisted's father to learn about the jutsu and enhance his body so Orochimaru could use it as his own when the time came. In exchange he promised to leave Twisted unharmed. But to make sure there wouldn't be any problems, Orochimaru made an example using Twisted's mother."_

Two sound ninja entered the room, carrying a woman in her late twenties with long silverish hair. She had tears running down her eyes and it was obvious by the state of her torn clothing that her captors had been _enjoying_ the job of detaining her. Twisted's father glared at the men, but didn't do anything lest he should give them reason to hurt her even more than they already have.

Orochimaru looked at Twisted's father, smiling maniacally. "Pay close attention, if you so much as put one toe out of line, this is what I'll do to your son."

Turning to his men, Orochimaru gave them permission to proceed with the demonstration. They each took out a large club with spikes on it and began beating Twisted's mother, the woman wailing in pain and agony. From the cell, Twisted watched in horror as his mother suffered.

_"Both Twisted and his father watched helpless as they beat her to death, Orochimaru fully intending to do the same to Twisted if his father didn't cooperate."_

Twisted's mother stopped screaming and struggling, lying perfectly still on the floor. Tears flowed from Twisted's eyes as he backed away to the wall in his cell and collapsed to his knees, crying. His father looked at the dead body in grief and in an instant vanished into a shadow on the ground. From the shadows of the two men who killed his wife, his arms came out. He grabbed them each by the ankle and pulled them into their own shadows.

"Ninja art: Black Massacre!"

The two men screamed as their shadows fully enveloped them. A moment later, their bodies flew back out, disfigured and butchered. Their corpses landed on the cold stone floor, blood pooling around them. Twisted's father emerged from Orochimaru's shadow and attempted to drive a kunai into the back of the sannin's neck. When the blade struck, Orochimaru vanished in a puff of smoke; a shadow clone. Twisted's father had no time to sense Orochimaru coming at him from the side, wielding his sword. In a single swing, he lopped off the other man's arm. Twisted's father cried out in agony as his dismembered limb fell to the floor.

Orochimaru smiled and licked the blood from his sword, "Such a shame you had to make me do that. Nevertheless, I did warn you not to try anything. Consider that a warning, next time it'll be that brat of yours who loses a limb."

_"With his wife dead and son held prisoner, Twisted's father had little choice but to let himself be used in Orochimaru's experiments. Unfortunately, he couldn't take them and died as a result. Now being the last member of the clan, Twisted became the target of Orochimaru's experiments."_

Twisted sat in the corner of his cell, scared and alone. With both his parents gone, he had nothing left. He heard footsteps approaching the cell door. It opened a moment later and Orochimaru entered, smiling down at him.

"You're a bit young to use for my new body, but with a little training I think we can fix that. Such a shame your worthless father was so weak. If he wasn't then you wouldn't be here right now."

Twisted said nothing and tried to curl up, making himself as small as possible. He hated and feared the man in front of him, but knew he couldn't do anything. He wasn't even a genin yet and would stand no chance against one of the sannin.

Orochimaru stepped closer, reaching down to pull the young boy to his feet and drag him off to force him into training. Twisted closed his eyes and pushed back against the corner he was in, praying desperately for something, anything to save him. Almost as if to answer his prayers, he felt the walls behind him vanish as he began to sink into nothingness. 

_"Just as all hope seemed lost for him, Twisted's kekkei genkai activated for the first time and he escaped from Orochimaru."_

Orochimaru watched as the boy vanished before his eyes, melting into the darkness of the prison cell. Realizing what happened, he swore and left the cell, alerting his men.

"The brat escaped! Search everywhere and bring him back to me alive! He couldn't have gotten far! Failure will _**NOT**_ be tolerated!"

But it was too late. Sticking to the shadows like any true shinobi would, Twisted navigated his way out of Orochimaru's maze like lair and did the only thing he could. He ran for his life.

_-End Flashback-_

"After that he made his way back home and ended up being adopted into another family. He became a genin and trained hard, eventually earning jonin rank. But he never forgot what Orochimaru did, and blamed our village for everything that happened. So when we managed to capture him and learned of all of this, I took it upon myself to keep him in the village for his own safety. As long as he's still alive, Orochimaru will most likely still try to capture him again to use his body as his own. And if that happens, Orochimaru will become more dangerous than he ever was before. Using the shadow-stalker jutsu, he could kidnap countless more ninja, steal nearly anything, gain information with ease and most of all, become almost impossible to capture."

Tsunade finished the retelling of Twisted's past, being met with only silence from everyone else in the room. Each of them let the information sink in as they gained a new perspective on the rogue ninja. Getting up she excused herself, needing to return to her office. Before leaving she requested that Sakura to help Naruto keep an eye on Hinata for the rest of the day to make sure there weren't any other problems. After that, Neji left to inform Hiashi that Hinata was awake. He wondered how his uncle would react when he saw Hinata cuddling with Naruto in a hospital bed.

Meanwhile, sitting on the edge of the hospital's roof, Twisted looked out on the village. Letting out a sigh he looked down to his bandaged arm with the seal on it. As long as that was in place, there'd be no point to leaving the village. He knew that Orochimaru was still out there and that the sannin still wanted him. Clenching his fist in anger he decided to stop focusing on the village and return to his sole purpose in life.

Killing Orochimaru.

TBC.

Well that's that. Now that all the serious stuff is out of the way, I can get back to having fun with this fic. Got a lot planned for the rest of it and poor Ino better watch out, it's time for Tenten to get serious.


	5. Chapter 5

Now that I got the plot line pretty much established, it's time to return to this story's original purpose. Which is Naruto having to be stuck at Hinata's side caring for her twenty-four/seven and one-sided romance with Ino and Tenten. Plus Twisted is obviously gonna be up to his usual antics.

Chapter 5)

Tsunade had returned to her office, leaving Hinata in the capable hands of Shizune and Sakura. She'd go back in the morning to check on her again and start to work on her current condition. In the meantime she had a mountain of paperwork to handle. The recent incident with the Akatsuki had distracted her and in just a day it had nearly doubled. Letting out a sigh she sat down at her desk and got started.

As she had come to expect from any other time she had tackled this arduous task, it didn't take long for something to come along and interrupt her. This time it was from a certain rogue ninja barging his way into her office to speak to her.

Twisted had flung the door to her office open and approached her at her desk. He stood in front of her, a determined look in his eyes.

"Is there something you want Twisted?"

"As a matter of fact, yes there is. I want you to take this damn seal off of my arm so I can leave without you tracking me. I think I deserve it since I paid my debt saving trying to save those brats from the Akatsuki. So hurry up and do it so I can be on my way."

He held his bandaged arm up to her, waiting to see if she'd comply. Tsunade sighed again and shook her head.

"No. I know what you want to do and I'm not allowing you to do it. Orochimaru is too dangerous; you'd be killed just like your parents were. Now unless you want to irritate me, I suggest you drop the subject and take your leave."

Twisted glared at her and slammed his fist down on her desk. "You're going to do it, even if I have to use force to convince you to!"

Tsunade met his gaze. "Go ahead and try little boy."

"Gladly." He vanished into the shadow of her desk and in the next instant reached back out and grabbed her by the ankles. Before she could react, Twisted quickly pulled her into the shadow.

"Ninja Art: Black Massacre!"

Not even half a minute later, Twisted reemerged from the shadow with Tsunade. However rather than Tsunade being horribly wounded by the jutsu, it was Twisted who was injured. Apparently Tsunade was more than capable of overpowering him, even in his territory. She was about to literally kick him out of her office, but was struck by an idea.

Grabbing a bottle of sake, Tsunade sat in her chair and relaxed. Twisted sat on the opposite side of her, doing the paperwork she was originally going to do. Twisted grumbled and filled out the practically countless forms, ignoring Tsunade's smug smirk.

---------

Back in Hinata's room at the hospital, the girl was just waking up from a short nap. Opening her eyes, she found Naruto wasn't in sight. Feeling a jolt of fear she suddenly sat up and looked around the room. After a second, she saw Naruto on his bed (the one that Twisted had previously been using) and playing cards…with himself. Naruto groaned in frustration as he lost the game and glared at his clone, or maybe it was the other way around, it was hard to tell.

"You cheater! You hid that ace up your sleeve while you shuffled the deck!"

"I did not! You're just a sore loser. But hey, if I lost twenty games in a row, I would be too!"

"I only lost because you cheated you jerk!"

"If I'm a cheater and a jerk, then so are you dumbass!"

The first Naruto lunged at the other, knocking them both off the bed to the floor. He threw a punch at his double, but the second Naruto managed to avoid it and then hit the first with a head butt. The first Naruto vanished in a puff of smoke; it had been the shadow clone that was the sore loser.

Hinata watched the scene, first feeling relieved that Naruto was in fact in the room with her and then giggling at his antics. The blonde got up and smiled at her.

"Hey Hinata, how was your nap?"

The girl got out of bed and went over to lean against him. "Fine, but I'm still a little sleepy. Can I lie next to you for a little bit, please?"

Naruto blushed, "Uh… I guess that would be okay."

He got back onto his bed and lied down, Hinata climbing in and settling down next to him. She rested her head on his shoulder and let out a content sigh. Her eyes closed and in a matter of seconds she had drifted off into a light sleep. Naruto would have closed his eyes also, but felt a bit awkward lying next to Hinata. Instead he just watched her sleep, for some reason feeling happy just doing that.

The peace and quiet was a welcome change from the events of the past couple days. Too bad for Naruto he wasn't able to keep enjoying it. Hiashi Hyuga, who had to practically threaten the Hyuga elders to let him leave the Hyuga compound, had finally gotten back to the hospital to see his daughter. He walked into the room and was welcomed by the sight of the two cuddling on the same bed. Seeing Hinata was resting, he contained himself and instead of having an outburst, calmly approached the bed and confronted Naruto.

Finding the boy was awake, he politely asked him to speak with him outside. Naruto complied, feeling nervous from the look Hiashi was giving him. Carefully leaving the bed, Naruto got up and followed the older man out of the room. As they left, Hinata stirred, the absence of Naruto lying next to her rousing her from her light sleep.

Once Hiashi and Naruto were outside the room, Hiashi quietly shut the door and turned to glare at the boy.

"Just what were you doing in there? I hope you weren't trying to take advantage of my daughter's condition. Neji told me all about the mental trauma she's endured and I won't stand for anyone doing anything to upset her while she has to remain here in the hospital."

Feeling nervous, Naruto tried to explain to him what was going on, "It isn't like that! I mean I wouldn't try to do something like that! It's just that when she woke up she was…"

"I don't want any excuses; just know that I don't want you pulling anything. Especially since we only recently cleared up the misunderstanding between the two of you. Now I'd like to see my daughter…alone."

Naruto stood in front of him, blocking the door. "Okay but Hinata won't like that I'm not there when she wakes up. She might cry and freak out a little."

Hiashi scoffed, "I think she can manage going without your company for the rest of the day."

Almost as if to protest what he had just said, he heard Hinata call out Naruto's name from inside the room. She was awake again and sounded upset that the boy wasn't with her. Knowing that he'd need to go back inside to calm her down, Naruto opened the door and ended up bumping into her. Apparently she had thought of looking for him outside the room and had gone to open the door at the same time he had.

Seeing that Naruto was still with her, Hinata threw herself into his arms and let him hold her. Naruto apologized and told her what had happened. Learning that her father had only wanted to speak to Naruto without waking her up, Hinata calmed down. Hiashi watched them with worry for the way Hinata had acted. Naruto brought the girl back into the room and sat her down on her bed. He then told Hiashi a rather rough explanation of what was going on. The man took a moment to absorb what he had heard and pinched the bridge of his nose, sighing a bit.

"This is a bit troubling. But you said Lady Tsunade can help her?"

Naruto nodded, "Yeah, but she said it'll take a while before Hinata's all better. And until then she wants me to help take care of her. So I got to stay in the hospital and share a room with her so she won't freak out."

"I see. Well if it's what the Hokage said, then I won't question it. Although, I would like to speak with her about this myself. I suppose I should go and see her while it's still light out." He went over to Hinata and gave her a soft smile. "I'll return to visit you tomorrow. Until then get some rest."

Hinata got up and gave her father a hug, "Bye daddy."

Hiashi was momentarily caught off guard by the sudden show of affection from his eldest daughter. He awkwardly returned the hug before turning to leave. Stopping at the door he turned back to look at Naruto.

"Take good care of my daughter. And I meant what I said earlier. I don't want you trying to take advantage of the fact she's so dependent on you being by her side. If you do, you'll regret it."

He left, shutting the door behind him and leaving Naruto and Hinata alone. The rest of the day was pretty uneventful. They had a short dinner and not much later Hinata went to sleep in Naruto's arms. This resulted in Naruto having to share the bed with her since he didn't want to wake her up by trying to go to his own bed.

-The next morning-

In Tsunade's office, Twisted was fast asleep at the desk. He had been stuck their doing the paperwork late into the night, long after Tsunade had left. Roughly around two in the morning he had fallen asleep, knocking over a pile of papers which now covered most of his upper body.

Tsunade entered her office to be welcomed by the sight. Letting out a sigh she went over to the sleeping jonin and rapped him on the head. Twisted sat bolt upright, startled out of his slumber.

"I hope you got plenty of sleep Twisted. After all you still need to finish the rest of the paperwork. But first clean up the mess you made and make sure you put them back in the order they were in. I'm going to the hospital to check on Hinata and then I'll be back. You can have a short break to get some breakfast then."

Twisted grumbled and set back to work while Tsunade left for the hospital. It was rather early so when she entered Hinata's room she found that both she and Naruto were still asleep. Taking a moment to admire the cute scene, she decided to just let them be and check in again later. She still had to make sweep of the rest of the hospital as well.

A little over an hour later she returned to check in on them again. Naruto was still asleep but Hinata was awake. She was still laying next to him, watching him sleep with a soft smile on her lips. Tsunade went over to the bed and stood next to her patient, greeting her with warm smile.

"Good morning Hinata. How do you feel today?"

"Fine."

"Are you hungry? Would you like me to have a nurse bring you and Naruto some breakfast?" Hinata gave a small nod. "Alright, but before that, I think it would be a good idea if I were to start your treatment. You'll need to get out of bed though."

Hinata complied, reluctantly getting up and sitting on the edge of the bed. Tsunade spent the next minute using a healing jutsu on her; placing her hand on the girl's forehead. When she finished, Naruto had finally woken up. He sat up and rubbed the sleep from his eyes.

"Mornin'."

"Well, it's about time you woke up. I'm having someone bring breakfast for you and Hinata, it should be here soon. I'll be back later to check on Hinata again. If there's any problems just call for a nurse." She went to leave, stopping at the door and giving them one last smile, "Behave yourselves two."

Tsunade left them alone, heading back to her office to perform her usual duties. Not much later their breakfast arrived, the two genin eating their meal together. The morning soon changed to noon and Hinata got her first visitor for the day.

Ino Yamanaka had just finished her shift at her family's flower shop. Before she left she had thrown together a flower arrangement to give to the girl. It was a small vase filled with seven flowers, all with their stems cut short to fit inside of the vase. There were three lilacs and three pink tulips going around the edge of the vase in an alternating pattern with a single white rose in the center. Nothing extravagant, but definitely enough to help brighten up the room Hinata was going to be stuck in.

Checking in with the nurse at the front desk, Ino made her way to Hinata's room. She didn't get the chance to visit the girl the day before so she needed the nurse to show her the way. The nurse informed Hinata that she had a visitor and let Ino in before returning to the front desk. Ino went inside, finding Hinata and Naruto sitting on the bed and playing cards. Or rather, Naruto was teaching her how to play. The two turned to see who had come in and smiled when they saw her, Naruto waving.

"Hey Ino!"

"Hey Naruto. Hi Hinata. How are you feeling? Any better?"

Hinata nodded, "Are those for me?"

"Yup, I made this myself this morning with fresh cut flowers. I thought you might want something to brighten up your room." She went over and set it on Hinata's bedside table. "There, much better. So I heard that you're stuck in the hospital too Naruto? "

"Yeah, Grandma Tsunade wants me to help take care of Hinata until she's better."

"I know, Sakura told me yesterday. She said Hinata had a panic attack when she woke up and you weren't in the room. You just couldn't stand to be away from your beloved Naruto-kun, could you?"

Hinata blushed and fiddled with her fingers. Ino knew very well that wasn't the reason that Hinata had acted the way she did. She just wanted to tease the girl a little. However, karma must've chosen to repay Ino a little for her little joke because two more visitors were on their way to see Hinata.

The first was her cousin Neji, who had decided to come after finishing his morning training with Hinata's father. The first thing he did was go up to Hinata to see how she was doing, after getting the same answer everyone else who asked the question had gotten, he turned to Ino.

"You may want to know that Tenten is here as well. She just needed to use the ladies room and should be here any second."

Ino tensed, becoming a bit nervous. She thanked Neji and went to leave, but saw the door opening and in a state of panic looked for a place to hide. The first place she could think of was underneath Hinata's bed, so that's where she went. As she crawled underneath, she begged the others in a harsh whisper.

"Don't any of you say a word about me being here! Got it!?"

There wasn't any time for them to answer her. Tenten had come in the room and had joined the others. She looked around for a second in confusion and then shrugged.

"Weird, I could have sworn I heard Ino-chan's voice. Must've been my imagination." She took a seat next to Hinata's bed and saw the flowers Ino had given the girl. "Wow, those are beautiful! Who gave them to you Hinata?"

Hinata took only a second to think up an answer. "Naruto-kun. He got them for me to help me feel better."

"That's so sweet. Did you get these from the shop Ino's family owns?"

Naruto nodded, "Um, yeah I did. Why?"

"Well I was just wondering if it was Ino who made this flower arrangement. It looks like her work. I watch her working in the shop sometimes."

Under the bed, Ino's eyes widened in shock. _'She watches me when I'm working!? That freak really is stalking me!! What do I have to do, get a restraining order to keep her away from me!?'_

Completely oblivious to the blonde girl's negative thoughts about her, Tenten continued. "Yeah, this is definitely Ino's work. She's brilliant when it comes to flower arrangements."

Ino blushed at the compliment, although she wasn't sure why. It wasn't like the brunette's praise meant anything to her. At least that's what she was trying to tell herself. While she was thinking it over, she accidentally breathed in some dust that was under the bed. This resulted in her sneezing and gaining the attention of the others. Cursing under her breath, Ino looked over just in time to see tenten lean down and spot her.

"I knew I heard you earlier. What are you doing under here? Trying to hide from me?" Tenten smirked and pulled Ino out from under the bed. The girl's clothes had dust all over them, making Tenten smirk more. "You're all dirty, you should get changed. Maybe take a bath too. I'll be happy to join you." She leaned forward and whispered into Ino's ear. "I can't wait to get a better look at your cute butt."

Ino blushed and shoved the other girl away, "Back off! You're a freak!"

She hurried out of the room, Tenten smiling and calling after her. "I know where you live Ino-chan!"

Her comment made the girl break into a run, Tenten giggling as she bolted out of the room. Neji shook his head at this teammate's antics.

"You realize that if you keep treating her that way, she's only going to want to avoid you more."

"I can't help it! She's so much fun to pick on. But I guess you're right. I'll go and apologize."

Tenten left to pursuit Ino. She caught up with the girl in front of the hospital. Ino had slowed down thinking that she was away from Tenten. However when she heard the other girl approaching she picked up the pace and started to run in hopes of losing the girl. Tenten followed her, chasing the girl past the Hokage's office.

Twisted looked up from the desk; having seen the two go by the window. He thought back to when he had been caught and how he had considered exploiting the tension between them. Perhaps he still could. After all, he was going to be stuck in the village so he might as well have some fun.

He was snapped out of his thoughts when Tsunade rapped him on the head, reminding him that he still had a good few stacks of paperwork to finish. And to make matters worse, she had just brought in a bunch more to add to them. Twisted sighed in frustration and resumed the tedious task he had been forced into, making a mental note to never pick a fight with Tsunade ever again.

TBC

Alright, so once again I'm sorry for the wait. I didn't get any reviews for my last chapter until nearly a week after I posted it and started to worry. For a while I thought my readers were losing interest and that sort of discouraged me a little. Thankfully that wasn't the case and I found the initiative to get this chapter done. Hope you liked it.


	6. Chapter 6

I gotta say, these chapters are getting pretty fun to write. I like being able to think up ways to torment poor Ino-chan and at the same time make things awkward for Naruto.

Chapter 6)

Ino turned a corner and cut through an alley to the next street. She looked over her shoulder and found Tenten was still on her tail. The blonde cursed under her breath and sped up a little.

_'Damn she's persistent! What do I have to do in order to lose her!?'_

Meanwhile Tenten herself was asking herself a similar question. Only she was thinking more along the lines of how to get the other girl to stop for a minute. Getting an idea she slowed and let Ino leave her line of sight. She created a single clone and then went in a different direction, having the clone continue the pursuit.

Ino looked over her shoulder again and started to relax, thinking that she had finally ditched the brunette. However that was proven wrong when she saw Tenten, or rather the clone of Tenten, but she didn't know that, coming after her. She sped up again and made a sharp turn around a corner. Luck must've been on her side, because she saw her teammate Shikamaru wave her over into the academy. He led her to an empty classroom and shut the door behind him, locking it.

Ino took a seat on one of the desks and breathed a sigh of relief. "Thanks Shikamaru. I owe you one."

"Whatever, I still don't see why you have to run from her. You act like she has some kind of disease."

"That's easy for you to say! She isn't the one harassing you every time you see her!"

Shikamaru went over to her and sat down next to her. "Harass? Isn't that exaggerating a little bit? As far as I know, the most she's done is chased you a couple times. And both times she had a good reason to do it. Didn't she?"

Ino scoffed, "Please. I bet she was just using those as excuses to…Hey, how do you know about this? You weren't around for either time she's chased me!"

A bead of sweat ran down Shikamaru's face, "Uh, well she told me. Since we're on the same team she thought that it would be a good idea to talk to me about what's going on between you two."

He chuckled nervously, rousing suspicion in the blonde girl. Shikamaru seemed to be acting a bit weird. Maybe he was feeling sick? No, he had seemed just fine when Ino had seen him hat morning at the village gates as he was about to…

"Wait a minute. Shikamaru, didn't you leave on a mission this morning with Kiba and Shino?"

Shikamaru scratched the back of his head sheepishly, "Oops, looks like you found me out."

He was enveloped in a puff of smoke. When it cleared, Ino found herself staring at none other than Tenten. The brunette took advantage of Ino being stunned for a second by her sudden appearance and pounced on her. She grabbed Ino's wrists and held her down, not wanting her to try and run again. Ino struggled to get out from under the older girl, but to no avail.

She looked up at Tenten, glaring at her. "Let me go!"

Tenten smirked, "Not a chance. I finally got you to hold still. I'm not letting you run from me again."

"No! Get off of me! If you try anything I swear I'll make you regret it!"

"Would you just shut up for five seconds and let me talk to you!?"

Ino clammed up, slightly intimidated by the other girl shouting at her. It didn't help that their faces were only inches apart. Satisfied that the other girl was now quiet, Tenten continued in a gentler tone of voice.

"Sorry I had to yell. But I've been trying to tell you that I'm sorry if I've been a little too forward with you. It's just that I like to tease you that's all. You're just so cute that I can't help it. So will you accept my apology Ino-chan?"

Ino blushed and looked off to the side, "If that's what it'll take to get you off of me, then fine."

Tenten let go of Ino's wrists and helped the girl to her feet. Ino was about to leave but Tenten grabbed her again and pulled her into a hug. She planted a chaste kiss on Ino's cheek, making the girl blush again.

"That's for me being too forward with you." She kissed Ino's cheek again, "And that's for me yelling at you." Tenten moved her lips so they were just over Ino's, barely any space between them. "And this is just because you're so damn cute…"

She went to close the distance between their lips, but Ino shoved her away and glared at her, seriously aggravated.

"What the hell!? Why did you even bother apologizing to me for being forward if you're just going to go and do it again!?"

"I told you, because you're so cute. And I only apologized for being forward; I never said I was going to stop. But if it makes you feel better, I'll leave you alone for the rest of today. I need to go and train with my team." She went to leave, stopping at the door to wink at Ino and blow her a kiss. "Later!"

She unlocked the door and took her leave. Ino fumed quietly over the recent transaction with the brunette and went off herself. She needed some time to herself after having to put up with all that.

Meanwhile, in Tsunade's office, Twisted had finally finished the paperwork. His writing hand hurt like hell, but now he could finally get the hell away from Tsunade. He had decided it was best to just find another way of leaving the village. All he'd need is a window of opportunity and then he'd high tail it as far away as possible. Then he'd get someone to remove the seal on his arm and he'd be free as a bird. Next mission he was assigned, he was _so_ out of here.

Almost as if to answer his prayers, Tsunade took one of the forms out of the countless stacks he had completed and handed it to him.

"Since you're done, I think you'll need a little fresh air and exercise. This is an A-rank mission I want you to complete for me. It should take only a couple days so you should be right back."

Twisted smiled, this was perfect. Now he had plenty of time to escape. Or even better, he might find someone who could remove the seal on his arm first and then he could leave. Either way, Tsunade wouldn't know until it was too late. Someone up there must really like him to have him be assigned a solo mission just when he was thinking of running away from the leaf village.

"One more thing before you go Twisted, I'm having Kakashi, Gai and Kurenai accompany you since they'll all be needed on the mission as well. Between Kurenai's genjutsu, Kakashi's sharingan, Gai's Taijutsu, and your kekkei genkai, this should be an easy task for you four. Take an hour to gather any supplies you need and meet them at the east gate of the village."

Twisted cursed to himself silently. So much for his plans on escaping the village. With those other three jonin with him, his plans were shot to hell. Not bothering to voice the fact he wasn't pleased, he just left and went to get ready for the mission anyway. He did need money after all. Once he was gone, Tsunade informed Shizune that she was going to check on Hinata real quick and then be right back. She had free time now that all her paperwork was, for the time being, finished.

When she arrived she found the two still sitting around in Hinata's room. It's not like there was really anything they could do aside from that as long as Hinata was supposed to stay in the hospital but still, Tsunade didn't like the idea of them doing practically nothing all day. Especially since it was so nice outside.

After a moment's thought she came up with an idea. "Naruto, why don't you and Hinata go out for a little while?"

"Huh? But I thought she was supposed to stay in the hospital?"

"Yes, but that doesn't mean she has to be kept cooped up in this room every second she's awake. Besides, some fresh air could very well help her feel better. Just don't stay out too long or do anything strenuous. She still needs to rest and save her strength." She turned to Hinata, smiling. "What do you say Hinata? Want Naruto to take you out on a little date?"

Both Naruto and Hinata blushed at the older woman's statement, Hinata smiling a little and nodding. Even if it wasn't really a date, she'd enjoy just being outside and spending time with Naruto. Naruto scratched the back of his head, thinking it over. He didn't have anything against it, but for some reason felt nervous about it. Setting the irrational feeling aside, he agreed to do it. If it would be good for Hinata, then it would be more than worth it.

Tsunade closed the curtain around Hinata's bed, allowing the girl privacy to change. While Hinata got dressed, Tsunade talked to Naruto both to help Hinata by ensuring that he was still in the room and to just lay down a couple simple rules.

"You don't have to be out all day, just an hour or so. Don't leave the village and under no circumstances are either of you to train. Understood?"

Naruto nodded, "Sorta, but why can't I train? I get why Hinata can't since you want her to save her strength and stuff, but can't I just do some basic training while she watches?"

"No Naruto. If I wanted Hinata to just sit around and stare at you then I wouldn't be asking you to take her outside at all. I want her to get exercise so the two of you should just walk around the village for a little bit and enjoy the day. When Hinata feels better enough to start her training again I'll let the two of you go out and train together. But until then I don't want her tiring herself out. Got it?"

"Okay, I get it. No training and no leaving the village. You can count on me Grandma!"

Tsunade gave him a smack on the head, "Don't call me that!"

Hinata finished changing and opened the curtain. She was dressed in her usual attire minus her coat. Taking Naruto's hand, the two went to leave, Tsunade reminding them as they left not to be out for more than a couple hours. Once out of the hospital, Naruto decided to stop by his apartment. He wanted to change clothes since he had been in the same outfit for the past couple days. Leaving Hinata in his living room, he changed into another of his orange jumpsuits, but left his jacket behind like Hinata did.

Now set to go, the two went back outside and began to walk around the village a little. They spent a little time just walking around, going nowhere in particular. After a while they bumped into Twisted and Kurenai. The two were on their way to the village gates, Kurenai having met up with Twisted along the way. They were talking; Kurenai seemingly apologizing to him of all things.

Naruto waved at them, well at Kurenai at least. "Hey Kurenai-sensei!"

The older woman turned to them and smiled, offering a small wave. She and Twisted went over to them, Kurenai approaching her student. "Hello Naruto. Hello Hinata, how are you feeling today? Any better?"

Hinata nodded, "Lady Tsunade treated me this morning and I feel a little better. Naruto-kun and I are just taking a walk so I can get some fresh air."

"I see, so it's almost like the two of you are out on a date."

Naruto blushed a little, "Well I wouldn't say that. It's just a quick walk; it isn't like we're doing anything else."

Kurenai smirked, "Maybe you should. Doing something nice for Hinata just might help her feel even better."

"Really?" Naruto took a second to think it over. "I guess it couldn't hurt. Say, what are you doing with him?"

He pointed to Twisted, who was reading his book and ignoring them. Kurenai spared him a passing glance before turning back to the two genin.

"We have a mission with Gai and Kakashi. We were on our way out of the village and talking a little. In fact I was just apologizing to him for the way I've treated him."

"Huh? Why would you want to do that? He's a jerk."

"Yes he is Naruto. But it's thanks to him that both you and Hinata are safe. If he hadn't let me escape and get help, who knows what would have happened." She looked back at him again, "I may not like him, but I'm grateful for what he did."

Twisted rolled his eyes and shut his book, "You people are too forgiving. I didn't save them out of the goodness of my heart. I have a score to settle with the Akatsuki and that's all there is to it. The only reason I _'saved'_ them is because I have to settle a score with Naruto. I still owe him for the time he almost mauled me."

Naruto glared at him, "You deserved it for all the stuff you made me to Hinata-chan! You're lucky that Grandma Tsunade stopped me or I would have done worse!"

"Whatever. Oi, Kurenai let's go. I want to get this mission over with."

The two went off for the east gates of the village again. Not really having anything else to do, Naruto and Hinata followed them. They found Gai waiting for them at the gates, doing push-ups with only one finger. As they neared him, they could hear him counting.

"Nine thousand nine hundred and ninety-seven, nine thousand nine hundred and ninety-eight, nine thousand nine hundred and ninety-nine, ten thousand!" He returned to his feet, smiling victoriously. "A new personal best! Next time I think I'll try for twenty thousand!"

Twisted turned to the others, "Who the hell is he talking to?"

Kurenai gave small shrug and they went over to him. Gai greeted him with his trademark smile, including the sparkling of his teeth. "Kurenai, Twisted! It's about time the two of you arrived. Now all we need is Kakashi and we can get on the road!"

As to be expected of Kakashi, he wouldn't be around for a while. Nearly half an hour later he arrived. Gai went over to him and greeted him with a hearty slap on the back.

"Kakashi, fashionably late as usual! What kept you today my rival?"

"It's funny you should ask. I accidentally went to the west gate of the village instead. When I realized my mistake I had already been waiting there for twenty minutes."

Naruto mumbled that Kakashi was a liar under his breath, managing to get Hinata to giggle a little. The four jonin went to leave, Gai taking the lead.

"Alright, we got a late start but we can make up for it. Let's get moving double time!"

Twisted groaned, "You can't be serious."

Gai stopped to think for a moment, "Hmm, Twisted's right. Double time would be much too slow. So let's make it triple time or maybe even quadruple time!"

He took off at an insane speed; Twisted's eye began twitching, regretting that he opened his mouth. Naruto and Hinata watched them leave and then went back to just walking around the village. As they kept going, Naruto thought about what Kurenai had said. He wanted to do something nice for Hinata while they were out. But he couldn't really think of anything right off the bat aside of maybe getting some ice cream together. It was simple, but maybe that was all he needed to do. Hinata would appreciate it.

"Hey, Hinata. Want to get some ice cream?"

Hinata smiled at him, "That sounds nice."

"Okay, let's go! There's a place nearby that makes the best ice cream in the whole village! I'll get you anything you want, my treat!"

Taking her hand, he lead her to a small shop a couple blocks down the street. They went inside, Hinata looking over the selections on the menu-board posted behind the counter. Naruto felt nature calling and went in the direction of the public restroom.

"I'll be right back. I just need to take a leak."

Hinata turned to look at him, oblivious to his lack of tact. Instead she was more concerned with the fact that he had said he was going to be leaving, even though he had also told her he'd be right back. She grabbed his arm and clung to it, refusing to let him go. Naruto managed to free his arm and looked at her, seeing a fearful look in her eyes.

"Hinata, it's okay. I'm just going to the bathroom. I won't be two minutes."

"B-but…."

"I know. You don't want me out of your sight. But I just need a little privacy. Would you want me following you into the bathroom when you need to go?"

Hinata blushed and shook her head. She let him go into the men's room, but waited outside the door until he was finished a minute later. They went back over to the counter and ordered. Naruto got a chocolate double scoop on a cone and Hinata got a single scoop of chocolate. Taking their ice cream to go, Naruto started to lead Hinata to the Hokage monument. He had gotten an idea of something else nice to do for her and was getting a bit excited because of it.

Once atop the monument, he brought her to the top of the fourth Hokage's head where they took a seat. The view up there was breathtaking. You could see the entire village and the surrounding area from up there. Hinata looked on with awe, she had never seen the village from this point of view. Naruto saw the look on her face and smiled.

"I knew you'd like it. The view up here is pretty amazing. Especially when the sun is setting."

"Could we watch the sunset Naruto-kun?"

"I don't think Grandma would want us out that late. We should probably be going back soon." He saw her look a bit saddened by that and felt a little guilty. "But I promise that I'll take you here again when you're better."

That seemed to make Hinata happy. She went to take a lick of her ice cream, the scoop accidentally falling off of the cone. Naruto took his ice cream and nudged the top scoop off and onto Hinata's cone. She smiled at him in thanks and the two finished up their frozen treats. They sat there for a short while longer before Naruto stood up again, offering his hand to Hinata to help her up as well.

"Come on, we should get going. Grandma needs to give you another treatment soon."

Hinata got up, holding Naruto's hand and the two headed back for the hospital.

TBC.

Well, things are going to start getting a little more interesting from here on. Next chapter is gonna be a bit Ino/Tenten centric. Got a nice idea from Diablo200030002002 that I can't wait to try out.


	7. Chapter 7

New chapter is here! As I mentioned previously, Diablo200030002002 gave me a nice idea a while back for Ino and Tenten and I just couldn't wait to do it. I think it's going to be a major step for Tenten in her attempts with Ino.

Chapter 7)

A day and a half had passed since the four member jonin squad consisting of Kakashi, Kurenai, Gai and Twisted had left on their mission. They were just returning to the village, having successfully completed the task that they had been set on. It had been to retrieve a stolen scroll, a very old and valuable one, and return it to a small village just off the border of the land of fire. As Tsunade had said, it was fairly easy. Kakashi and Gai had provided a distraction and handled most of the gang that had stolen the scroll while Twisted snuck inside and retrieved it. Then Kurenai had cast a genjutsu on the gang allowing them to escape with ease. Fortunately the gang members weren't shinobi, just a dangerous group of thugs, so the genjutsu was plenty affective on them.

Now back inside the gates of the village, Kurenai went off to deliver the mission report to Tsunade while Kakashi and Gai returned to what they usually do between missions, meaning intense training and reading Icha Icha paradise. Twisted however started to just walk around the village, feeling a mix of boredom and frustration. His hopes to leave the village had dwindled ever since getting put on that mission and he had decided to wait until the next opportunity presented itself before trying again. Until then, he'd just have to put up with living in the village. The only thing that bugged him is that there wasn't really anything for him to do around the place aside from eating and using the public baths. He recalled the days when he had caused trouble for Naruto and Hinata. Now those were good times, for him at least. If only he hadn't been caught, then he could have maybe messed with them a little more. But he wouldn't be able to get away with it now that Hinata had her temporary condition. The last thing he wanted was for Naruto to go nuts on him again. A shudder ran down Twisted's spine as he recalled that particular incident.

Snapping from his thoughts, Twisted saw some familiar faces ahead. It looked like Tenten was talking to Ino and Sakura, the blonde girl trying to stay away from the brunette who was probably bugging her again. Twisted smiled, he may not be able to pull anything with Naruto or Hinata anymore, but he figured he could mess with those two. But to be safe he'd keep it simple, and he had a good idea of what to do. There was a new jutsu he was developing that he'd wanted to test out. But first, he'd just have a little fun.

Sneaking off the road and into an alley, he performed a transformation jutsu. He was enveloped in a cloud of smoke and when it cleared, he was disguised as Tsunade. Returning to the main street, Twisted approached the three girls. Going up to Tenten, _Tsunade_ smiled at her.

"There you are, I've been looking all over for you."

Tenten turned to look at _her_, "Lady Tsunade. Did you need me?"

"Hmm, well it isn't so much a _need_ as it is a _want_."

The brunette blinked in confusion, "I'm sorry?"

_Tsunade _giggled, "I wanted to see you, you silly girl! I've noticed that you're feelings towards Ino haven't been returned. So I was wondering if you'd perhaps consider giving me a chance."

Tenten, Ino, and Sakura all looked shocked by the sudden statement. All three blushed and stared at _Tsunade_ in disbelief. The older 'woman' looked at them with a raised eyebrow.

"What?"

Sakura managed to recover from the shock first, "Well it's just a little surprising. I think I speak for all of us when I say that we never thought you'd…" she blushed, looking down at her feet. "It's weird seeing you act like this."

"Aw, are you jealous Sakura?" _Tsunade_ smirked and placed her hand on Sakura's cheek, caressing it and making the girl blush intensely. "You're my apprentice Sakura and I've always thought you were cute. But you never caught on to my feelings for you. So please don't be upset that I've found someone else alright?"

_Tsunade_ turned back to face Tenten, leaving Sakura stunned and blushing from what she had just been told. While Sakura was left unable to think of how she should feel with all this, Ino stepped forward next, looking highly annoyed.

"You too!? What is wrong with this village?! You're the Hokage! You shouldn't be flirting with girls, especially when they're young enough to be your grandchildren!!!"

_Tsunade _gave Ino a small glare and poked her in the forehead, "And you're just a little genin who has hardly any experience in the shinobi world. You shouldn't be talking down to your superiors like that." Smirking, the older 'woman' continued, "But I'll let it slide this time. I can't blame you for being jealous that I'm trying to steal your girlfriend from you."

Ino's eye twitched, "SHE IS _NOT_ MY GIRLFRIEND!"

"Oh? Then you won't mind me kissing her now will you?"

Once again the three girls were stunned by what they had just heard. Tenten was now, like Sakura, frozen in place out of shock. _Tsunade_ leaned forward, about to plant a kiss on Tenten's lips. Just before they met, Ino grabbed Tenten and pulled her out of the way and then glared at _Tsunade_.

"Back off! She already has someone!..." Ino caught herself and quickly regretted the words that had escaped her mouth. "I mean, um…"

_Tsunade _smirked, "That's all I needed to hear…" with that Twisted released the transformation. Seeing his true identity, the girls experienced a mixture of emotions. Relief, irritation, embarrassment, confusion and above all anger. Twisted laughed at the looks on their faces, provoking Tenten who was clearly not amused.

"It was you!?" Tenten punched Twisted, the man taking the punch and falling back onto his ass. His body broke down into water and splashed onto the ground. He stepped up behind the brunette and placed a hand on her shoulder.

"Calm down, if anything you should be thanking me." He was shut up a second later by Sakura, who was now in a bad mood. She slugged him in the stomach, managing to actually hurt him, unlike when Tenten had tried. He fell to his knees under the already improving strength of the pink haired girl, who glared down at him.

"How's that for a 'thank you'?!"

Taking a moment to get the air back into his lungs, Twisted stood back up and smirked. "Hey, if not for my little prank on you three, Ino wouldn't have come out and actually shown some affection toward Tenten."

Tenten looked over at the blonde girl, thinking over what the man had just said. Ino blushed and took a step back, watching the brunette warily.

"Hey don't get any ideas! It isn't because I like you or anything! I just didn't want to have to watch you two make out. That's all!"

The brunette was about to question the blonde, but something clicked in her mind. She paled a little as a look of disgust came to her face. "Oh gross, _Twisted_ almost kissed me! EW!" She shuddered and stepped closer to Ino, "Thank you so much Ino-chan. I almost made a big mistake. Here, let me thank you properly."

She went closer to Ino, preparing to just give her a little peck on the cheek. Ino backed away, "Don't you dare! I'm not interested so just stay away from me!"

Tenten stopped, looking a little hurt that Ino was still being cold towards her, "But why not? You let me give you kisses on the cheek the day before yesterday."

"I didn't _let_ you! You just did it and caught me off guard! If I had known, I would have stopped you!"

Twisted sighed and shook his head. "It's rather sad that you can't even give her a chance Ino. If you're going to be like that, then maybe I should help Tenten out a little."

He went through a series of hand signs, going too fast for any of them to see. When he finished his right hand glowed blue and his left hand glowed red. In the next instant he charged toward Ino and Tenten, slapping Ino's right hip with his right hand and Tenten's left hip with his left hand. Both girl's blushed and glared at him.

"Hey! What was that for!?

"Yeah! First you try to kiss me and now you're trying to grab my butt!? What kind of weird perv are you?!"

Tenten went to take a step forward so she could hit him, but felt an invisible force tugging at the left side of her hips. As she tried to move, Ino felt a similar force tugging on her right hip. Both girls looked down, curious as to what was going on. Tenten tried moving forward again, putting more effort into it and as a result, Ino was pulled in the same direction and nearly fell. Tenten saw her out of the corner of her eye and just barely managed to catch her in time.

"Are you alright Ino-chan!?"

Ino gave a small nod, blushing a little in the brunette's arms. But then she realized just where she was and pushed the girl away, getting back onto her feet. Sakura had watched the whole thing and quickly guessed what was going on. She turned toward Twisted, pointing an accusing finger at him.

"What did you do to them?!"

Twisted smirked, "Nothing bad, if that's what you're wondering. I've been developing a new jutsu and used it on them. That's all; it's actually rather impressive. Here's how it works." He lifted his hands which started to glow again just like before. "I focus my charka into my hands and then manipulate the nature of each, giving them opposing magnetic polarities. Then I implant the two opposing chakras into two separate things, in this case it was Ino and Tenten. The two became magnetically charged by my charka and are now influenced by the magnetic force between them that I created. Here, let me give you another demonstration."

Using his right hand he pulled out a Kunai and it became absorbed in the blue chakra. He went over to a nearby tree and placed his other hand on it, the red glow being absorbed into the plant. The kunai in his right hand started to shake a little bit, as though it were trying to escape. Twisted walked back a little, holding the kunai by the handle with only his thumb and index finger. The weapon seemed to struggle to escape him more violently with each step he took away from the tree. He stopped and then released the kunai, the blade hurtling towards the tree at an amazing speed and embedding itself all the way inside it as it struck. The girls looked on in awe at what had just happened. Satisfied with their reactions, Twisted continued.

"As you just saw, the kunai immediately went into the tree. This is because my jutsu turned them both into super powerful magnets. I did the same to Ino and Tenten, but didn't make the magnetic attraction as powerful. Both Ino's right hip and Tenten's left hip are magnetically attracted to the other. But the attraction is weak enough that the two can be up to a meter apart without the magnetic forces acting on them. If one of them tries to go in one direction, the other will be pulled that way against their will. In other words, Ino and Tenten, the two of you might was well be joined at the hip."

Finishing up his little speech, Twisted let the girls absorb what they had just heard. As to be expected of Ino, she clearly didn't like it and ran up to the man, unintentionally making Tenten follow her due to the attraction between them.

"What!? You had better fix this right now! I am _NOT_ having _HER_ follow her me everywhere because of you!!"

Tenten regained her footing and tried to calm the blonde down, "Ino-chan, I think you're overreacting a little. Besides, I bet this will just wear off after a little bit."

Twisted smirked again, "Sorry but no. The jutsu won't wear off unless I reverse it. I'll be happy to do it for you but…"

Ino raised her eyebrow "But what?"

"But, you girls need to do a little something for me. How about you two go for a little walk, get something to eat and take a bath together. Then come back here and I'll undo the jutsu. Agreed?"

Ino opened her mouth, about to decline but Tenten clamped her hand over the girl's mouth. "Deal, we'll meet back here in an hour."

Ino pushed the brunette's hand away, "What!?"

"Do you _want_ to be stuck with me forever? I don't mind having you by my side always, but I know you don't want to so we'll just get this over with and you can go back to avoiding me. 'Kay?"

Ino blushed a little and looked away from Tenten, "Whatever. Let's just go already."

Tenten smiled and started to follow the blonde as she walked off. Sakura watched them go and then looked over to Twisted.

"I don't get you. You say you hate the village, but you were obviously just trying to help Tenten with Ino. Could it be you're nicer than you let on?"

Twisted scoffed and went to leave, "Don't get any ideas, I was bored. And the tension between those two is practically palpable so I decided to exploit that. Nothing more."

He vanished into a shadow and left Sakura by herself. The girl shrugged and decided to head over to the library for a while. She wanted to see what happened between Ino and Tenten, but opted to let them be. They could work things out by themselves, after all they were both able to be reasonable.

-----X-----

"Come on Ino-chan, be reasonable."

"No! You stay as far away from me as possible! Just because we have to do this doesn't mean that I'm going to let you try anything, so back off!"

Tenten pouted and moved a little to the side, giving Ino more personal space. An awkward silence filled the gap between them, well…awkward for Tenten that is. She had been hoping that this would be an opportunity for her to get closer to the blonde, but Ino seemed just as adverse to that idea as ever. She tried to think up something, anything that she could say or do to try to appease the blonde. Suddenly remembering Ino's weakness, she smiled and looked at the girl.

"So…what should we do about getting something to eat? He did say we had to do that."

"I'm not hungry!"

As though to protest her statement, Ino's stomach let out a growl of hunger. The girl blushed and Tenten smirked knowingly.

"Liar, come on let's go."

She grabbed Ino by the wrist and took off, dragging the girl behind her. Ino protested and tried to pull her arm free, but to no avail. Tenten brought her to a dango shop, the same place she had gotten the sweet dumplings when she had been helping Ino mess with Naruto for Twisted. The brunette got two orders to go and then dragged Ino back out of the shop. Heading for a less settled part of the village, Tenten brought Ino to a bench near the small river that ran through the village. Sitting down, Tenten took out a skewer and ate one of the dango. She took out another and held it out to the blonde who had to sit down to her left.

Ino reached for the food, but Tenten pulled it back and smiled at the blonde teasingly.

"Uh-uh. You got to say you're sorry for snapping at me before."

Ino hesitated a moment before speaking, "Sorry."

"No, say it like you mean it Ino-chan."

The blonde sighed, "I'm sorry for snapping at you."

Tenten smirked, "Say 'Please Ten-chan, forgive me for being mean.' And say it cute!"

Ino's eye twitched "You're starting to push your luck Ten_-chan_!"

Letting out a giggle, Tenten handed the skewer to Ino who started to eat it. From there on they ate in silence. Soon almost all of the dango were gone aside from two that Tenten had left over.

"Would you like one of these, Ino-chan?"

Ino nodded a little, unable to resist her favorite. Tenten took one of the remaining dumplings between her lips and leaned forward. It took Ino a second to catch on. Tenten wanted her to eat it from her mouth. Blushing she gave the girl a small glare. Tenten ate the dango herself and took the last one off with her fingers, holding it up to Ino's mouth.

"Sorry, I couldn't resist. Here…" she pressed the dumpling to Ino's lips. Ino opened her mouth, not thinking of what she was doing and let the other girl feed her. As Tenten pushed the dumpling in she intentionally smeared a little bit of it on the corner of Ino's mouth. Once Ino finished it, Tenten pointed it out, smirking.

"You've got a little something on your face Ino. Here, I'll get it for you."

She leaned forward and licked the bit of Dango off of Ino's mouth. Ino blushed, completely caught off guard. Tenten let her lips hover in front of Ino's, slowly closing in for a kiss. Ino turned her head and pushed the brunette away. She looked a little upset.

"Stop, just please stop."

Hearing the tone in her voice, Tenten backed off. She looked at the other girl sympathetically, "What's wrong?"

"You scare me, okay? Every time you come near me I feel funny and it confuses me. It happens when you tease me, when you smile at me, even if I just see you look at me the way you do. Why can't you just leave me alone!? Then I wouldn't have to feel this way anymore."

Tenten pulled Ino into a hug, feeling the girl tense up at the contact. "I'm sorry Ino-chan; I didn't know I was doing that to you. I didn't mean to make you so uncomfortable." She held the girl for a moment, noticing that Ino seemed to be even more uneasy than before. Tenten let out a sigh and got up, "Come on, you need to relax. I think it's time we took that bath."

Helping Ino to her feet, Tenten escorted her to a nearby bath house and the two went into the girl's side. Tenten started to undress, starting by letting down her hair, but Ino refused to strip in front of her. Tenten turned and looked down at the floor, completely avoiding looking at Ino.

"Go ahead, I promise I won't peek."

Ino hesitated but then quickly removed her clothes and wrapped herself in a towel. Tenten did the same and the two went out to the water. Inside the bathing area, they found that Kurenai and Hinata were also enjoying the baths. Apparently neither Hinata nor Naruto had taken a bath in the past couple days. When Kurenai had found out, she made it a priority to take them out so they could clean up. As a bonus, she had gotten permission to take them outside of the hospital, allowing Hinata some fresh air. Ino and Tenten sat down near them and soon enough a conversation started by asking how Hinata was doing. The girl gave them a quick update on how she was feeling and then looked over to the fence separating the men's side from theirs. Kurenai explained that Hinata was just a little worried since Naruto wasn't in sight, but was definitely on the other side, taking his bath by himself.

"It's alright Hinata. You saw him go into the men's side before we came in here."

"I know, but…" she blushed a little, "I still wish that he could have come in here like he wanted to."

Ino and tenten both gawked at Hinata for her statement. Kurenai told them that in an attempt to be courteous to Hinata's condition, Naruto had tried to come in to join them on the women's side when they had first arrived. He had been intending on using the Sexy Jutsu so he could do it, but Kurenai had made it very clear that it wasn't going to happen.

From the other side of the fence, they heard Naruto calling out to them. He was done with his bath and was going to be waiting outside for Hinata and Kurenai. The two got up, saying that they should be going as well. They exited the baths, leaving Ino and Tenten alone. An awkward silence passed between the two. Tenten averted her eyes, knowing that Ino wouldn't like it if she kept looking at her. Ino however was hugging her knees to her chest, her eyes closed tight as though she was afraid. There was no question as to why.

Letting out a sigh, Tenten grabbed Ino's wrist and pulled her into her lap. The blonde was startled very much by this and struggled a bit, but calmed down when Tenten glared at her. She laid Ino's head against her shoulder and wrapped her arm around the girl's waist. With her free hand, she reached up and started to gently stroke the girl's hair. Tenten closed her eyes and relaxed, enjoying the moment.

"There, is this really so bad?"

"N-no, but…just don't touch me anywhere, okay?"

Tenten giggled and kissed Ino's forehead, "I promise I won't do anything naughty to you Ino-chan."

The next few minutes the two spent just like that, Ino slowly becoming more comfortable in the brunette's arms. Ino looked up at Tenten and just stared at her a little. She had never seen the girl with her hair down before and she found herself finding the other girl…attractive. Ino blushed and started to question her own thoughts. She didn't get to do it for long because Tenten went to get up, making Ino have to stand as well.

"I think it's been long enough. Come on, let's go and find Twisted so he can undo this jutsu of his."

They returned to the changing room and started to put their clothes back on. Ino finished dressing first and went over to Tenten.

"Tenten?"

"Yes, Ino-chan?"

Ino blushed and hesitated a moment, "Thank you, for not watching me strip or touching me when we were in the bath. I appreciated it…so…h-here." She planted a chaste kiss on the other girl's cheek, catching her off guard. Tenten placed her hand on her cheek, still able to feel the blonde's lips. Ino looked down at her feet, "Don't get any ideas, I only did that because I…I guess I have been a little cold to you. You aren't the stalker I made you out to be."

Tenten smiled and gave Ino a kiss on the cheek, "That means a lot to me. Thank you, now let's go."

She held out her hand to the other girl. Ino hesitated but took it in her own and together they set back out to find Twisted. As he had told them earlier, he was waiting for them in the same spot he had put the jutsu on them. The two approached him, Tenten giving him a mild glare.

"We did what you asked, now keep your end of the deal!"

"Calm down, I'll do it. But first I want you to do just one more thing. I want you each to do a request for the other. I think that should be simple enough, alright?"

Tenten looked over to the blonde, "What do you say Ino-chan? Is there something you want me to do for you?"

Ino thought for a second. "I want you to keep what happened today between us. No telling anyone."

"Okay, I'll keep it secret. But I want you to give me a kiss on the lips in return."

The blonde blushed and hesitated but closed her eyes and puckered her lips. Tenten smiled and gave her a quick kiss on the lips. Ino pulled away when it was over and covered her mouth with her hand. She looked confused and a little ashamed, but mostly confused. Twisted kept his word and, once more channeling the red and blue chakras into his hands, undid the jutsu. Ino took off once it was removed, not even sparing a passing glance at the other two. Tenten sighed and watched the other girl take off. She had been so sure that she had been making progress with the girl, but now Ino seemed as adverse to her advances as ever. Maybe asking for the kiss had been a bit much, as far as Tenten was concerned, it was Ino's first.

Twisted noticed the distant look in the girl's eyes and quickly figured out what was going on. With a smirk, he stood next to her "You know, if you want, I could do the jutsu on you two again. Only this time I could make it stronger so you're stuck even closer to each other. I could even fix it so your hand would be magnetically attracted to Ino's butt. Then you could feel her up and she couldn't stop you."

Tenten turned to look at him, a small smile on her lips. "Thanks, but no thanks. If I had you do that, then that would mean you'd have to touch Ino's butt. And that's something only I'm going to get to do."

She turned and left for her home; in her mind she was resolving on trying even harder to get Ino's attention. Today she had defiantly made an important step, all she had to do was get Ino to open up to her a little more. And that was going to be much easier now than it had been before.

TBC

Okay, so it seems that there's been some progress with Ino and Tenten. Next chapter is going to focus on both them and Naruto and Hinata. Then the chapter after that is going to be almost entirely them. Hope you enjoyed this chapter, I'll try to get the next one up soon.


	8. Chapter 8

Back with the next chapter. Sorry to say that this probably won't be as good as the last one, but still I think it turned out alright. Let me know what you think.

Chapter 8)

Hinata's condition was getting better. She was becoming more comfortable with the fact that Naruto couldn't always be by her side and as a result the boy no longer needed to stay in the hospital overnight with her. Although she would start feeling unnecessarily worried if she didn't see or hear from him for a while. The longest she could stand being without him was overnight so Naruto had to come by and see her first thing in the morning at the hospital and would usually stay until she fell asleep that night. It required a little more effort on Naruto's part, but on the bright side, he was allowed to go out and train again, as long as Hinata went with him.

The two were currently at the training grounds that Hinata's team usually used. They were training along with Shino, Kiba and Kurenai. Hinata was taking it easy, just doing basic charka control exercises with Kurenai while the boys did their usual routines. By the time it was mid-afternoon Kurenai had Naruto and Hinata call it quits for the day. Tsunade had made it clear that while Hinata was getting better, she still needed to rest and not strain herself. So Naruto and Hinata left the others behind, making their way back to the hospital. When they got back they returned to Hinata's room and passed the time together. Soon enough it almost time for dinner and Naruto left the room for a moment to order some ramen from Ichiraku's.

While he waited for his food to arrive outside the hospital, Naruto saw Ino and Choji heading in his direction. Normally it wouldn't be a big deal to see the two spending time together since they're on the same team. But right now it seemed as though the two were rather close. Ino had her arms wrapped around Choji's, the boy holding a bag of garlic-barbeque chips and using his free hand to scarf them down. If Naruto didn't know any better he would have thought that they were boyfriend and girlfriend. The two approached him, clearly heading for the hospital. Choji popped another chip into his mouth and waved.

"Hey Naruto."

"Hey Choji, hey Ino! What's up with you two?" Naruto smirked, "Are you out on a date together?"

Choji blushed and was about to answer, but Ino beat him to it, almost blurting it out as though she was offended by Naruto's question.

"Of course we're on a date! What makes you think we wouldn't be?! Just because we're teammates doesn't mean we can't go out. Right?"

She giggled nervously, clutching Choji's arm in an almost vice-like grip. Naruto looked at the other blonde with a raised eye brow and then turned to Choji.

"Is this something she's doing to try and get Tenten to leave her alone?"

Choji nodded, "Pretty much. She came over to my house and asked me to go out on a fake date with her. Apparently Tenten's been stalking her all day or something like that."

Naruto looked behind them. A distance away he saw someone peeking around the corner at them. Even though she was so far away, it was definitely Tenten. Ino glared at Naruto, yelling at him in a harsh whisper.

"Don't look you idiot! I don't want her to know that I'm on to her!"

Choji shoved another handful of chips into his mouth. "I think she already knows Ino. Why else would she be following us?"

"Is it really that obvious?" Both Choji and Naruto nodded, making Ino hang her head. "This isn't fair. Why won't she just leave me alone? No matter what I say to her, she won't back off." The blonde girl raised her head back up and glared at Choji. "This is your fault! If you could just be more convincing she'd have believed we are on a date and she wouldn't be following us!"

"Hey, don't blame me. You're the one acting all paranoid. Besides, I didn't have to say yes. I could have said no to you like Shikamaru did. Then what would you do?"

Ino's glare faded and was replaced by a look of worry. "You aren't going to ditch me are you? Please don't! Then she'll definitely come over her and start bugging me!"

"Relax, I'm not gonna do that. I promised I'd do this for you so I won't back out partway through."

Ino thanked the chubby boy, relieved that he was going to continue helping her. They went inside the hospital so Ino could visit Hinata while Naruto waited outside for his ramen to arrive. It was delivered not too long afterwards and he went back inside. Thankfully the hospital didn't mind him having outside food. He returned to Hinata's room and sat down next to her. While he had been waiting her dinner had been brought in and she was currently poking at the bland hospital food with the plastic utensils that they provided.

Naruto took out his ramen, having a nice large bowl of it. Hinata eyed the boy's meal, finding it much more appealing than the food in front of her. She pushed her tray aside and turning to face him.

"Um, Naruto-kun? Would it be alright if I had some of your ramen?"

"Huh? Sure Hinata-chan. Here we can split it. I got extra barbecued pork and everything!"

He set the bowl down so they could both eat from it. But then he realized that there was only one pair of chopsticks. It looked like they would have to share them. He blushed at the thought of it, but didn't make any complaint or even point it out. While he started to eat the ramen, Choji was staring at Hinata's hospital food.

"Hey, are you going to eat that Hinata?"

"No, you can have it if you want."

"Alright!" Choji discarded his now empty bag of chips and helped himself to the tray of food. He scarfed it all down in a matter of seconds, not even stopping to breathe. Ino gawked at how quickly the boy had inhaled the food, completely disgusted by is lack of manners. She was about to yell at him, but was interrupted when Tenten walked into the room. The brunette hugged her from behind, kissing her on the cheek and making her blush.

"Hey, Ino-chan. Did you miss me?"

Ino was still for a moment, almost seemingly enjoying the attention. Then she remembered just who it was giving her said attention and pushed the brunette away.

"Get off! We've been over this! I don't like you that way! Why are you still stalking me!?"

"Hey, I only stalk you when I don't have anything better to do like training or missions."

Ino blushed and gawked at the other girl in awe. The others seemed just as surprised to hear Tenten admit to being a stalker. The brunette giggled, apparently the only one to find this funny.

"Just kidding. I actually came here to visit Hinata. But I'm glad you're here too Ino-chan." She blushed and looked down at her feet, "I was hoping that maybe we could go out and have dinner together. I'm sorry I've been following you all day, but I was sorta…afraid to ask you. I know that you aren't comfortable around me, but I want to put an end to that. So, what do you say? We can go anywhere you want, my treat."

Ino smirked, "Sorry, but I've already got a date." She held Choji's arm in hers and giggled, "Choji-kun asked me out and I couldn't turn him down."

Choji scratched his head in confusion, "But Ino, weren't you the one who asked me out?"

Ino stepped on his foot and glared at him, telling him to shut up. Tenten stared at the two, finding the idea of them dating to be hard to believe. In fact, she didn't believe it. She crossed her arms and raised her eyebrow, her gaze locked on the blonde girl.

"So you two are a couple now? Well then I hope you don't mind proving it. How about you two share a kiss?"

Both Choji and Ino blushed. Ino had hoped that Tenten wouldn't ask something like that. However she had expected it to happen and thought of what to say just in case.

"Well, we'd love to but we really aren't far enough in our relationship to be comfortable kissing in public."

"Oh really?" Tenten looked over at Choji, "Is this true Choji?"

"Not really. I don't mind kissing Ino in front of other people. It's not a big deal."

Ino clenched her teeth and spoke to him in a harsh whisper. "You aren't helping!"

Tenten smirked, "Good, then you two can just give each other a quick kiss. Do that and I'll stop bugging you Ino-chan. At least until you're single again."

Ino was caught between a rock and a hard place. On the one hand, all she had to do was give Choji a single, quick kiss on the lips and Tenten would leave her alone. But on the other hand, wouldn't that mean she'd have to keep pretending to be Choji's girlfriend just so she could keep Tenten fooled? She looked at her teammate, thinking it over. Sure she liked him and he was nice. But he wasn't really her type. She just couldn't picture being together with him. However, it would still be better than running away from Tenten every time she saw her.

Making up her mind, Ino decided to go through with the kiss. She faced Choji and puckered her lips. Choji leaned in to kiss her and she could already smell his breath. It wasn't to kissing fresh thanks to the hospital food he had just eaten and that bag of garlic potato chips he had eaten on the way over wasn't helping either. Before their lips could press together, she pushed him away saying she couldn't do it.

Tenten smirked "Naughty girl Ino-chan. You're definitely going out with me for lying like that." She grabbed Ino by the wrist, "Let's go."

Ino didn't really resist. She complied with the other girl's request but said that they she was only going out with her to dinner 'as a friend'. The two boys watched Ino and Tenten leave, a little surprised at how quickly the blonde girl had given in to Tenten.

"Hey Choji, is it me or did Ino look like she _wanted_ to go out with Tenten?"

"I don't know. She was doing nothing but trying to avoid her earlier. Maybe she's tired of trying to resist her."

"_Or_ maybe she really likes Tenten and is just afraid to show it. Either way, wanna follow them and see?"

Choji nodded and the two went to leave. Hinata came along, not wanting to be left alone. Thankfully she was able to go out since she had been getting better. Tsunade still wanted her to get exercise and it wasn't too late in the afternoon so she could head out for a little while. But no more than an hour.

The three followed Ino and Tenten on their 'date'. The two went out to the barbecue place that Asuma always took his team to. They spied through a window at their table, watching the two girls. It wasn't anything worth noting really. Tenten was talking to Ino, who only spoke back when she was answering a question. Overall, it wasn't as interesting as the boys had imagined it would be. And Hinata wasn't enjoying it at all. In fact she almost seemed jealous that Naruto was paying more attention to the blonde and brunette girls. While the boys were looking through the window, she was sitting next to Naruto, pouting with her cheeks puffed out a little. It took a while for Naruto to notice this, which only seemed to make Hinata pout more.

"Is something wrong Hinata?"

Hinata shook her head, but Naruto knew that she wasn't too happy about something. He sat next to her, starting to worry.

"Are you sure? You look like something's bugging you."

"I'm fine."

Naruto shrugged and went back to watching the two girls in the restaurant. After a moment of silence, Hinata stood up and looked down at him.

"I… I want a date too!"

Naruto looked up at her in confusion, "Date? You mean with me?" Hinata nodded, Naruto blushing. "Well I guess we can do that. But it's getting kinda late. I know! How about I take you on a date when you're all better and can leave the hospital? Grandma says you only need to stay a couple more days anyway. How does that sound?"

Hinata thought it over and then smiled, "Okay."

"Alright, so we'll go out then. I promise!"

Choji, who was more enrapt in what was going on in the restaurant, turned to look at them. "They're done; I think we better get going too."

The three stood and went to leave, but were surprised to see both Ino and Tenten standing behind them, looking annoyed. Especially Tenten, who had caught on to them spying on their date.

"Have fun watching us you guys? Hope we were able to keep you entertained."

Naruto and Choji chuckled nervously, the blonde boy scratching his head. "We can explain."

"You don't have to. It's obvious what's going on. You followed us after we left and spied on us while we were eating. You have a lot of nerve, especially you Hinata. I would have never expected this from you."

Hinata looked down at her feet and fidgeted with her fingers, "I only wanted to spend time with Naruto-kun. I didn't want to watch you and Ino so I just sat next to him."

Tenten sighed, "Still, you shouldn't have done it. I'll let it slide this time you guys, but don't let me catch you doing it again. I have a hard enough time getting Ino-chan to be comfortable around me; I don't need anyone else making her feel uneasy. Now if you'll excuse me, I need to walk Ino-chan home."

The girl's left, heading off in their own direction. Choji went home as well, leaving Naruto to walk Hinata back to the hospital. He stayed with her until visiting hours were over and then went back to his apartment to get some sleep.

The following morning, Naruto was woken up by a knock at his door. He groggily got out of bed and answered it, finding that his visitor was none other than Twisted. Naruto gave the older man a tired glare and tried to hold back a yawn.

"What do you want?"

"I got the most ridiculous mission assigned to me this morning and it involves you."

Naruto was suddenly wide awake and very excited, "Really? What's the mission!? Is it something really cool and important?!"

Twisted scoffed, "Hardly. I've been assigned to train you today."

The smile fell from Naruto's face. "You're kidding right? I have to be trained by _you_?"

"Hey I don't like it any more than you do. But the Hokage insisted on it, she even told me what jutsu to teach you."

Naruto seemed excited again, "Is it that cool thing you do when you sink into the shadows?!"

"No you idiot, that's a kekkei genkai. You can't do it unless you're from my clan. The jutsu I have to teach you took me seven months to develop and knowing you, it's going to take me three times as long to teach it. So we had better get started. Get ready and let's go."

"Fine, but we need to see Hinata-chan first."

"Whatever. Just get dressed so we can get this over with."

Naruto got dressed and the two went to the hospital. Hinata wanted to go with them, but since she had to train with her team that day, she couldn't. Naruto walked her to her team's training ground before he and Twisted went to the one that his team used. Twisted had Naruto sit down as he explained the jutsu.

"It's called the 'Opposing Polarity Jutsu.'"

"That's a dumb name."

"Shut up and pay attention! The concept is simple. You focus your chakra into each hand and then change the nature of the charka in each hand to that they each have an opposing magnetic field."

Naruto tilted his head in confusion, "Huh?"

Twisted pinched the bridge of his nose, "This is going to take forever, you'll never figure it out."

-----X-----

That night, Hinata found that Twisted was back in the same hospital room as her. Apparently there had been a little incident during the training with Naruto. Twisted had received a nasty injury, one that required him to lay on his stomach on the hospital bed. Naruto was in the room, rather pleased with himself. Tsunade was also there and just as amused. Twisted however was not. He glared at Naruto, the only thing keeping him from attacking the boy was his current injured state.

"Three hours. He learned in three hours what took me seven months to develop. And to add insult to injury he even added his own personal touch to it. I'm going to freaking kill you when I'm able to walk again!"

Tsunade held back a laugh. "Oh calm down already. You're the one who told him to try using the jutsu on you. So you only have yourself to blame."

"Shut up! I never would have thought he'd use my jutsu in combination with the rasengan! And to think he even used the '1000 years of death' to place the opposing magnetic chakra in me! Do you have _any_ idea how much it hurts to have a rasengan fly up your ass!?"

Naruto burst out laughing. He had been the one to cause it, so he had a very good image in his head of the look on Twisted's face when the rasengan had hit him. Tsunade joined in, as did Hinata. When the laughter died down, Tsunade looked down at Twisted.

"Quit complaining. You'll be out first thing in the morning. Just count yourself lucky that the rasengan wasn't able to maintain its form, otherwise you might be crippled right now."

Twisted glared up at the woman, "Lucky!? You call this _lucky_!? If that's the case then I am _never_ training that kid again! I don't care what you say or do to me, I mean it!"

Naruto started laughing again and Tsunade made him say goodnight to Hinata and leave. She gave Twisted a sedative to shut him up and then left the room as well. With Twisted out cold, Hinata was able to get to sleep easily. Tomorrow would be her last day in the hospital and then she could go on the promised date with Naruto.

TBC

Alright, so next chapter is going to be completely Ino and Tenten. It's going to be a major event for the two so it may take me a while to write it. I want it to be good, so please be patient. Until then I hope you enjoyed this chapter!


	9. Chapter 9

At long last the moment has arrived. Everything that had occurred between Ino and Tenten shall finally come to a climax. If you liked the little interactions I've had them go through before, then I can only hope you'll like this.

Chapter 9)

Ino sat on a bench in the park. She was waiting for her date to arrive. He had asked to meet her that afternoon so they could have a leisurely walk before going to a romantic dinner. The blonde could hardly wait for him to arrive and was practically bursting with excitement. Soon she saw him walking up to her, her heart fluttering at the mere sight of him. She stood up, blushing a little bit and greeting him with a smile.

"Hi Sasuke-kun."

He gives her a smug grin, "Ino-chan."

Ino's heart flutters again at the sound of his voice. He takes her hand in his and the two start to walk. They make their way through the park, soon arriving at a more secluded area. Ino feels Sasuke pin her to a tree and start kissing her. She feels his lips press against her neck and even feels him bite her a little. Feeling a bit uncomfortable, she pushes him away.

"Take it easy! You're being too rough Sasuke-kun!"

"Why did you say that?"

"Because you _are_ being too rough!"

"No, I mean why did you call me Sasuke, Ino-chan?"

"Huh?" Ino blinks and sees the image of Sasuke vanish, instead replaced by… "T-Tenten!?"

The brunette giggled, "Who else would I be you silly girl? Enough playing around. Let's get back to what we were doing."

Before Ino can do anything, Tenten pressed their lips together. She pushed the blonde girl against the tree and grabbed her wrists to hold her arms still. Ino struggled at first but soon gave up, actually enjoying the kiss. By that time, Tenten pulled away, smirking at her and giving her a playful lick on the cheek.

"So cute…I think we should just skip dinner and go someplace private so we can have 'dessert'. Would you like that Ino-chan?"

Ino nodded and let out a whimper as she felt Tenten bite her on the neck, hard.

-----X-----

Ino sat bolt upright in her bed, panting and sweating. Her heart was racing and she could swear she could still feel the brunette's lips on her. She got out of bed and went to the bathroom, splashing her face with cold water from the sink. Still feeling a bit disturbed by her unusual dream, she took a cold shower as well, trying to force the images of her and Tenten out of her mind.

After washing up for the day, she got dressed in her usual attire and had a light breakfast. She had a morning shift in the flower shop and as always she was looking forward to it. Working in the shop was easy and the pay was good too. Plus sometimes her friends would stop by, like Sakura or Hinata or even Tenten. In fact the other day the brunette had stopped by and bought a single red rose. Of course she tried to give it to Ino, who by all rights should have realized what was going on. But still she thought that it was a sweet gesture...

Ino shook her head, blushing and mentally scolding herself for thinking that way. Sure, if it hadn't been for the fact that a red rose symbolized love, then she would have probably not cared. But she still felt awkward accepting it even though she told herself that it was just a gift and it didn't mean anything.

Once more clearing her thoughts of Tenten from her mind, Ino went downstairs to the shop. Her mother was currently in the shop, getting everything ready for opening. Like her daughter, she had long platinum blonde hair, tied up in a bun and beautiful blue eyes. She wore a pink kimono and wooden sandals, her choice of outfit for when she ran the shop. Ino walked up to her, giving her a warm smile.

"Morning Mom."

"Good morning Ino, I'm glad you're here a little early. I want to talk to you."

"About what?"

Her mother turned to face her, a serious look on her face. "I saw you spending time with a girl yesterday. She walked you to the door and before she left, she hugged you. What was that about? You seemed rather…fond of her."

Ino paled a little, her eyes widening in fear. She managed to maintain her composure and answered her mother. "T-that? N-no, I'm not fond of her. I mean she's my…friend but that doesn't mean anything's going on between us."

"Then why were you two hugging?"

"T-there's nothing wrong with hugging another girl! You let me hug you after all."

"Yes, but I'm your mother. However, I suppose there isn't anything wrong with it, as long as it's just as friends. I'm sorry I jumped to conclusions Ino. I should have known better than to think so little of my daughter."

Ino smiled at her mother, "That's okay mom, it makes me happy to know you care."

She gave her mother a hug, the older woman accepting it and then going back into the house to let her daughter start her work shift. Now alone in the shop, Ino went about her normal duties. Watering the flowers, pruning them, checking the prices on certain items and making flower arrangements. The last one was always Ino's favorite. She could spend the whole day just making flower arrangements for the shop to sell. It was a shame she had so much other stuff to do. Letting out a sigh she set to work, she had a long shift that day and it was better to get started as soon as possible on the things that needed to be done.

A few hours into her shift, Ino finished the mandatory tasks and returned to the counter. Until a customer showed up, she had nothing else to do for the time being. So instead she pulled out a magazine and flipped idly through the pages. Time passed and she started to get bored, sighing and staring blankly at the pages of the magazine. The bell on the front door of the shop sounded, signaling that someone had entered. Ino kept her eyes on the page of the magazine, not really paying attention. She figured she'd just let the customer browse and wait for them to come to the counter if they wanted anything. The customer came straight up to the counter and Ino had no choice but to look up to address them. She found that the person who had entered the shop was Tenten, the brunette leaning on the counter and looking at her lovingly.

"Hi beautiful, when do you get out of work today?"

Ino blushed and checked to make sure that her mother wasn't nearby before casting a glare at Tenten.

"What are you doing in here!? I told you that I don't want my mother finding out about us!" Her blush grew and she corrected herself, "I-I mean I don't want her thinking that there's anything going on between us!"

Tenten giggled, "You're so cute Ino-chan. Relax; nothing bad is going to happen if I just come in to say hi."

"I guess not. But no trying anything, okay?"

"What? You mean like trying to steal a kiss?" Tenten gave Ino a fake pout, "But that's no fair Ino-chan."

"I mean it! Don't try anything! Don't even flirt with me!"

"What if I don't want to? What if I feel like teasing you a little?"

Ino glared, "I swear I will have you thrown out of here if I have to!"

Tenten look hurt, "I'm sorry Ino-chan. Don't be mad at me, I was only playing around with you. Let me give you a hug, okay?"

She went behind the counter and tried to pull the blonde into her arms. Ino apparently didn't want the girl to hug her and pushed her away roughly. A little too roughly as a matter of fact. Tenten lost her balance and stumbled back against the wall behind the counter. On the wall there was a shelf holding some potted plants on display. When Tenten bumped into the wall, one of the plants teetered and fell from its perch, landing on Tenten's head. The ceramic pot struck the brunette's skull, breaking and spilling potting soil all over her. Tenten rubbed the sore spot on her head, feeling a dull pain there. Thankfully all she had gotten was a bump.

Ino looked at the other girl, mildly shocked at what had just happened because of her. She forgot all about her insecurities and knelt down next to her, worry in her eyes.

"Ten-chan! I'm so sorry! I didn't mean for that to happen! You aren't bleeding are you?"

She helped the older girl to her feet, Tenten smiling and shaking her head to answer the blonde's question.

"I'll be fine Ino-chan. It's just a little bump."

Ino hugged her, still feeling bad about it, "I'm really sorry. I didn't want you to get hurt."

Tenten returned the hug, "That's okay. You don't have to apologize. It was an accident. But if you want to make it up to me, I still want that kiss."

The blonde turned away, "C-couldn't I just treat you to lunch or something?"

Tenten smirked, "Nope. You're giving me a kiss and you're giving it to me right now."

She closed the distance between their lips. Ino resisted, but Tenten won in the end, kissing the girl tenderly. Feeling mischievous, she managed to slide her tongue into the girl's mouth. Ino's eyes widened and she squirmed a little, feeling uncomfortable, but Tenten held her still. The blonde got used to it and would have possibly returned the kiss, if it weren't for one thing.

Ino's mother had heard the crash from when the potted plant fell and came to look into what had happened. Walking back into the store she was shocked to find her daughter locking lips with another girl. Tenten had her back facing towards the other woman and was so enrapt in the lip contact with Ino that she didn't notice her presence. Ino however had seen her mother walk in on them and saw the look of disgust on her face. She pushed away from Tenten, looking horribly nervous.

"M-mom! I swear I can explain!" Her mother didn't seem to want to listen and stormed back into their house. Ino followed, desperate to try and get her to understand. Leaving Tenten behind in the shop she caught up with her mother who was making an effort to stay away from her.

"Mom, wait! That wasn't what it looked like! I promise! I don't like girls that way, you know that! Mom!"

Her mother stopped, turning to glare at her in disgust. She raised her hand and brought it down, slapping Ino across the face. Ino brought her hand to her cheek, stunned, and listened as her mother spoke to her with a hint of venom in her voice.

"You have no right to call me that you filthy little abomination! I have no daughter! Now get out of my sight! You make me _sick_!"

She left, heading up the stairs and then the sound of a door slamming could be heard. Ino sunk to her knees, her mother's words having cut her deep. Tears began to flow from her eyes and she let out a sob. Tenten had gone to the door that connected the flower shop to the Yamanaka household and had seen the entire thing. She carefully approached the crying girl, kneeling down next to her and placing a hand on her shoulder.

"Ino-chan?"

The blonde looked up at her, eyes moist with countless tears. She glared angrily at the brunette and smacked her hand away.

"Get the hell away from me! I never want to see you again! I _HATE_ you!"

Tenten flinched a little, both from the other girl's words and the harsh tone of voice she used. Ino got up and ran upstairs to try and talk to her mother again. On the way up she bumped into her father, who was well aware of what had happened. Tenten felt a few tears escape her eyes, upset that she had caused this. Inoichi went with Ino to talk to her mother and Tenten returned to the shop, going to leave. Sakura was in the shop, looking around. When she saw Tenten come out, the girl trying not to cry, she grew confused and approached the girl.

"Tenten? What's going on? Are you okay?"

The brunette sniffled and wiped a tear from her eye. "I think I really messed up Sakura. Ino-chan hates me."

Sakura only grew more confused, but didn't get a chance to ask what was going on. Yelling could be heard coming from the Yamanaka's household, the sound of Ino's mother apparently still angered by what she had seen. After that, Inoichi walked his still very upset daughter into the shop, trying to console her.

"It's alright Ino, your mother doesn't really think all those things about you."

"Yes she does! You saw how she looked at me! She wouldn't even let me tell her what really happened!"

Inoichi held Ino in his arms, hushing her. "Your mother just needs some time to calm down. When she does I'll talk to her again and reason with her. I promise we'll work things out. But until then, it might be a good idea for you to spend the night over a friend's. It'll help you feel better for tomorrow when we'll try and get the two of you to talk again. Alright?"

Ino nodded, knowing that she should take her father's advice. Tenten got an idea from Inoichi's suggestion and stepped forward. She was still wary of Ino, knowing that the girl obviously hadn't forgiven her so easily. But still she had to try.

"I-if it's alright, Ino-chan can stay over my house."

Ino gawked at her, "What!? No! You're the reason that this all happened in the first place! I don't even want to look at you right now you sick freak!"

Tenten looked down at the floor; it had gone about as well as she had expected. She was about to turn and leave but Sakura stopped her and then went up to Ino. The pinkette punched Ino in the face, not hard enough to hurt her, but still hard enough to get her point across. She glared at the blonde, looking a bit pissed off.

"Would you listen to yourself?! You sound like your mother right now! Tenten feels really bad about whatever it is she did and she only wants to make it up to you! So stop being such an ignorant little brat and give her a second chance!"

The brunette stared at Sakura, blushing a little bit in admiration. She snapped from her thought and went up to the blonde girl, "Sakura's right Ino-chan. I feel awful about all of this. I want to make it up to you. Please?"

Ino didn't answer. She didn't know what to think of it and wasn't sure if she wanted to give Tenten a second chance so easily. Sakura let out a sigh and stepped forward.

"If it'll make you feel better, I can stay over Tenten's with you."

The blonde gave in, "Fine. Just don't let her try anything."

Sakura agreed to do that and the two left with Tenten, Inoichi returning to the house to try and speak with his wife again. The three girls didn't head out to Tenten's right away. Tenten said that she wanted to make it up to Ino and she had meant it. So she decided to treat her at a local teahouse. They didn't stay for too long, the awkward silence between Ino and Tenten ruining the atmosphere at their table. Taking their leave they went for a walk around the village, Ino needing time to think as did Tenten. Sakura followed behind the other two girls, ready to intervene in case something happened.

Eventually they went to Tenten's house, her parents out for the night leaving them with the place to themselves. Ino realized that she hadn't gotten a change of clothes or anything before she had left her house. Sakura volunteered to go and get them for her, seeing as Ino might want to avoid going home for a little bit. Plus she needed to get herself a change of clothes as well. She left the other two girls behind, hoping that in the time she was gone they could get along.

For the first several minutes since Sakura left nothing really happened. Ino was tense, not liking being alone with the brunette after that morning. Tenten wanted her to relax and managed to convince her to use the shower. Even though she had already showered that day, Ino decided that at the least taking another would help her feel a little better. Going into the bathroom she turned the shower on, waiting for the water to become nice and hot before going in. She let the hot water cascade down her body, washing away her tension and relaxing her.

Not too long after she hopped into the shower, Tenten came into the bathroom and saying she was joining her. Ino didn't get a chance to object before the brunette climbed in and stood under the water with her. She looked away from the girl, both keeping her from looking at her body and at the same time not looking at hers. Tenten embraced her from behind, wrapping her arms around Ino's waist. She kissed the girl on the cheek and held her close.

"I'm sorry Ino-chan. I know you aren't comfortable doing something like this, but I needed to be alone with you. Please don't hate me for what I did earlier. If I had known your mother was going to treat you like that I would have left you alone like you asked me to."

Ino sighed, "I guess I'm sorry too. I really did sound like my mother earlier, didn't I?"

Tenten smiled and kissed Ino's cheek again, "That's alright. You were upset, I don't blame you." She rested her chin on Ino's shoulder and just held her like that for a moment before giggling, "You know Ino-chan, you're pretty cute from this angle."

Ino blushed and pushed away from her, Tenten playfully grabbing for her. The two ended up grappling in the shower, Tenten smirking at her, "Careful Ino-chan. You might slip and land on your cute butt."

The blonde gave her a small glare and let her go, causing Tenten to slip. The girl grabbed hold of the nearest thing, which happened to be Ino's wrist and brought the girl down with her. Ino fell on top of Tenten, the blonde getting back up and blushing as she got a better look at Tenten's body.

Ino averted her eyes, "Sorry."

Tenten smiled, "That's okay Ino-chan. It's only fair since I looked at you. We're even now."

They finished up their shower and got out to dry off. With only towels wrapped around their bodies, they returned to Tenten's room and found Sakura was back. The girl noticed their current attire, or lack thereof and raised an eyebrow at them as they put on their pajamas.

"What were you two up to while I was gone?"

Tenten smirked, "Ino-chan was peeping on me in the shower."

"Hey! I was the one taking the shower and you invited yourself in!"

"That didn't keep you from looking at me, you naughty girl."

"You looked at me first!"

Tenten's smirk grew, "So you're not denying that you looked at me?"

Ino groaned in frustration and grabbed a pillow from Tenten's bed, throwing it at the girl and hitting her in the face. Tenten took the pillow and started to swing it at Ino. The blonde grabbed the other pillow from Tenten's bed and the two ended up in a full blown pillow fight. Sakura watched the two and shook her head, not believing the way they'd act sometimes. She was pulled from her thoughts when Ino accidentally hit her in the head with her pillow. Now irritated, Sakura grabbed her own pillow and went to return the favor.

The fight went on for an hour or so until they tired themselves out. They had a little something to eat and spent the rest of the evening watching movies. It was past midnight before any of them decided to go to sleep. Tenten laid out a futon for Sakura to sleep on and was about to do the same for Ino, but was surprised to find the girl already lying asleep in her bed. Not wanting to wake her, Tenten just climbed into her bed and gently pulled Ino into her arms, kissing the girl's forehead and then going to sleep herself.

The next morning Sakura woke up and found a sight she didn't think she'd ever see. Ino was cuddling with Tenten, the blonde resting her head on the brunette's chest and sleeping soundly. Tenten was stroking Ino's hair, enjoying being able to hold the object of her affections. Sakura smiled and got up, taking a moment to look at Ino before whispering to Tenten.

"We should probably wake her up. She still needs to go back home and talk to her mother and it's probably better if we do it sooner."

Tenten nodded and let Sakura gently shake Ino's shoulder, telling her she had to get up. The girl whined and snuggled closer to Tenten, "I don't want to. I'm too comfy."

The brunette blushed and Sakura tried not to giggle at her. She smirked down at Ino, whispering to her. "Is your pillow nice and soft Ino?" The girl nodded, a small smile on her face. Sakura's smirk grew, "You do know that you _pillow_ is actually Tenten right?"

"I don't care, she smells nice."

Tenten's blush grew and Sakura couldn't hold back any longer. She giggled and Ino fully woke up, unable to go back to sleep. The blonde realized what was going on and blushed as well. Tenten smiled and pulled her into a kiss, Ino not resisting at all. Sakura let them have their moment before making them separate.

"All right love birds, you'll have plenty of time for that later. We need to get going soon in case you forgot."

The other two got out of bed, a little annoyed that Sakura had to ruin their fun. But she did have a point, so they went to have a quick breakfast and get ready for what lay ahead.

TBC

Well I didn't want to end it there, but I also didn't want to make this chapter too much longer than the others. Only the final chapter is left. That and the epilogue, which I'll post along with it.


	10. Chapter 10

It's time for the final chapter. It's kinda hard to believe that my little trilogy is finally coming to an end. But this just means that I can finally get to work on my other Naruto stories that I've got waiting. Anyway, Diablo200030002002 gave me an idea I'll be using in this chapter and I hope that you like it.

Chapter 10)

Ino, Sakura and Tenten finished up their breakfast that Tenten had cooked for them. After putting the dirty dishes in the sink they went to go and get dressed for the day, still clad in their pajamas. Back in Tenten's room they were getting their clothes out for the day, Sakura taking out some shampoo and body wash. She went up to Tenten, who was currently undressing.

"Tenten, would it be alright if I used your shower?"

The brunette nodded, "Sure, in fact I was going to take one with Ino-chan. You can join us and it'll save us some time."

Sakura blushed, "Uhh, that's alright. I can wait for my turn."

Tenten looked over at Ino, the blonde walking over and grabbing Sakura by the wrist. She left for the bathroom, dragging Sakura with her. "Don't be such a baby, we're all girls. It's not like you have anything we haven't got."

Tenten followed the other two, smiling at the look on Sakura's face. Of course it wasn't anywhere near as amusing as the look on the girl's face after the shower. Sakura's whole face was pink with a blush and she couldn't bring herself to look at either of the other two girls. Neither of them thought it was a big deal; all they did was wash up, they didn't even touch each other.

Awkwardness aside, the trio got dressed for the day and left for Yamanaka Florist's. On the way Ino started to grow nervous, it clearly visible in her eyes. Tenten took note of this and held Ino's hand in hers, giving it a gentle squeeze. The blonde smiled at her, feeling a little better about having to see her mother again so soon after the incident the day before.

Arriving at their destination the girls went inside the shop. Ino's mother was at the counter, helping a customer. They waited until after she finished and the customer left to address them. She still had a look of disgust on her face, although it seemed more directed at Tenten than Ino. Going to the shop's door she locked it and put up a sign notifying any customers that it would be open again in a short amount of time. With that done they all went into the Yamanaka household and sat in the living room. Ino's mother sat in an armchair while the girls sat on the couch adjacent to it.

For the first couple minutes, nothing was said. The room was eerily silent, not making Ino feel any less nervous about any of this. Her mother looked at her and then at Tenten, and then back at her. Seeing that neither her daughter nor the brunette was going to speak, she started things off.

"I suppose I should apologize to you Ino. Looking back at what happened yesterday, it's obvious that I over reacted. Your father and I had a long talk and he helped me realize I was not only cruel to you, but unfair. As your mother I should have at least allowed you to tell me your side of the story. So that's what I want to hear right now, I want to know what's been going on between you and this girl."

Ino took a breath and started to tell her mother everything since she had caught onto Tenten's feelings for her. Tenten helped out, explaining things from her point of view. They kept going all the way up to the point where Ino's mother had caught them kissing in the shop yesterday. When they finished the older woman took a moment to let it sink in and think it over. She looked at Tenten giving the girl a mild glare.

"I see, so it's your fault. You've been harassing my daughter and as a result she's been having mixed feelings about all of this."

Tenten looked down at her feet, feeling a bit ashamed, "I know and I'm sorry. I never meant to cause all this. I was only doing it because…"

"I'm well aware of why you were doing what you did to my daughter. And if you know what's good for you then you'll stop it. I won't hesitate to get a restraining order to keep you away from her. As for you Ino," She hesitated a moment, "I'm sorry that I treated you so badly yesterday. You're my only child and you didn't deserve it at all. I should have been more considerate of your condition. You're scared and confused. But I promise that I'm going to stay by your side and help you until we fix this little problem."

Ino stared at her mother incredulously before standing up and glaring at her. "Fix my little _problem!?_ You make it sound like I have a disease or something!!!"

"Please calm down. I know that it might not seem that way since you're feeling confused and…"

"_Confused!?_ Does _this_ look like I'm confused to you!?"

She grabbed Tenten and pulled her into a kiss, catching the girl off guard. Once the surprise wore off Tenten returned the gesture, wrapping her arms around Ino and holding her tight. Ino's mother looked on with shock as her child locked lips with another girl and was also clearly enjoying it. When the kiss ended Ino looked back at her mother, smirking.

"Say whatever you want _mom_. But I know I like girls and I like Tenten! If anyone here is confused or has a problem then it's you! So until you can accept that, I'm not staying in the same house as you!"

Ino turned and left, with Sakura and Tenten following her. Her mother didn't follow, still trying to absorb what had just happened. The girls left the house and went into the shop, Sakura and Tenten praising Ino for her actions.

"That was great Ino-chan! You sure set her straight!"

"Yeah, did you see the look on your mother's face when you grabbed Tenten and kissed her? It was priceless!"

Ino giggled, "I know and it was fun too. I just might do it again."

Tenten blushed a little bit, "Then go ahead and do it. I won't stop you."

"If you say so Ten-chan; come here you."

She grabbed Sakura by the wrist and pulled her into a kiss, surprising both Sakura and Tenten. The kiss was quick and sweet, but still left Sakura speechless and blushing. Tenten gawked at the blonde for a moment, feeling a little hurt that she had kissed Sakura instead of her.

"Ino-chan…why?"

The blonde giggled at her, "Aw, don't be jealous Ten-chan. That was just something I needed to get off of my chest. I've wanted to do that for a long time. But that isn't going to change the fact that you're my girlfriend now, right?"

Tenten shook her head, still a little jealous of what Ino did, "No, I guess not. Just don't do it again alright?"

"Don't worry I won't. Besides, you'll forget all about it when I make it up to you later."

"Later?"

Ino nodded, "Yup, I do need someplace to stay since it looks like I won't be going home again for a little bit. Mind if I sleep over your house again? And this time, just the two of us?"

Tenten took a moment to let what Ino was asking sink in before nodding eagerly. Ino giggled and gave her a quick kiss on the cheek and heading back into her house. She had to get more clothes and a couple other things while she was there. Tenten waited for the girl and Sakura decided to just leave. She had to get to Tsunade's office in a little bit and also, she was still a little shocked that Ino had been her first kiss.

-----X-----

Later on, in the early afternoon Naruto was over at the Hyuga compound, waiting outside the front gates. As promised, he was taking Hinata out on a date since she was at last out of the hospital and fully recovered. He was happy to finally be able to keep his promise to Hinata, but unfortunately something had happened. Naruto had been paid a visit that morning by Jiraiya, telling him that he'd be taking him out on a trip for private training. A trip that would take them nearly three years until they returned. Naruto didn't know how he was going to break this to Hinata. He knew that she'd be horribly upset and then, there was something else…

Naruto didn't have any more time to mull over it. Hinata had just come out of the Hyuga mansion and walked up to him. In place of her usual outfit she was wearing a blue kimono. Naruto blushed seeing her in that outfit, she looked beautiful. He felt a bit under dressed now, wearing his usual clothing. Hinata didn't seem to care and the two set out on their date.

They started with a walk through the woods surrounding the village. Hinata was hugging Naruto's arm in hers and smiling while they walked. Naruto felt a little awkward walking with Hinata clinging to him like that, but didn't care. It was really nice out, not too warm or cold, a gentle breeze blew occasionally and there were few clouds in the sky. The two would have been able to continue enjoying the beautiful weather if not for the fact their time alone was cut short.

Naruto and Hinata entered a small clearing in the forest. Sitting against a tree was Twisted, currently immersed in his book. He noticed the couple and groaned in frustration.

"For crying out loud, I can't even enjoy time to myself outside of the damn village! What are you two doing here?"

Naruto glared at him, "We're just going for a walk. And just for the record, we aren't too crazy about seeing you either you pervert."

"I'm not a pervert kid."

"Yeah right! Anyone who reads that stupid book has got to be a pervert!"

"What do you know, you look like you can barely read as it is! And if that's the only proof that you have behind thinking I'm a pervert, then you have no proof at all."

Naruto smirked, "Then maybe I should prove it." He had Hinata give him a little room and then formed the hand sign for his original jutsu. "Sexy Jutsu: Kimono girl version!"

The boy was enveloped in a cloud of smoke and a moment later it cleared, revealing him now as Naruko, dressed in an orange kimono with a little of her cleavage showing. Twisted rolled his eyes and got up, advancing on the blonde. He formed his own hand signs and then, with charka focused into his palm, struck Naruko in the stomach.

"Transformation sealing jutsu!!!"

The blonde stumbled back and fell on her butt. She glared up at the man, getting to her feet. "What did you just do to me!?"

Twisted smirked, "I sealed you in that transformation of yours. Maybe that'll teach you to go around and switching genders like that. See you later girls; I'm going to find another quiet place to read."

He sank into the shadow of a tree, leaving Naruko and Hinata alone. The blonde fumed and would have tried to go after him, but didn't. After all, Hinata had been waiting for this date and there was no way they were going to let Twisted ruin it. While on that train of thought, Naruko realized something. She was stuck in this form, at least until she found a way to reverse it. Would Hinata even want to still go on the date now? She asked her and Hinata blushed in response, looking down at her feet.

"Of course I do Naruto-kun. It doesn't matter to me if you're a boy or a girl. I…I love you for who you are, not what you look like." Her blush grew and she waved her arms frantically back and forth, realizing the words she had just spoken might be misunderstood, "N-not that I don't think you aren't attractive or anything like that!!!"

Naruko giggled and went beck over to her. She readjusted the kimono she was wearing and took Hinata's hand again. They finished up their walk, going all the way around the village. Heading back, they tried to decide where to go to get something to eat. Hinata had suggested ramen, but Naruko declined, wanting to treat Hinata to something different for a change. They considered barbeque but didn't want to chance running into Asuma's team since they were always going there.

After a little more time thinking it over, they found out that there was a Hibachi restaurant in the village. Neither of them had ever been there before so they chose to try it out. It was a pretty nice place and the show their cook put on when he was preparing their meals made their time their even more fun.

Once their meal of Hibachi style chicken and rice was prepared, they ate together and talked. Naruko wouldn't admit it out loud, but it was kind of nice to stay in the girl form with Hinata like this. Little did she know, but Hinata felt that same, although she still preferred Naruto as a boy. When they finished their meal, Naruko paid the bill and they left.

They walked off their meal, going around the village for a while. Recalling the last time she had been on a date, Naruko offered to buy Hinata something at a store if she wanted. Hinata tried to decline but Naruko insisted. So Hinata decided to go into her favorite bookstore, which was a bit of a surprise for the blonde. She thought Hinata would have gone for a clothing store. Nevertheless she followed her inside and browsed while Hinata looked around for something. She herself rarely read, but apparently Hinata was the opposite. It took her nearly an hour to decide which book she wanted. Although that was because she practically searched the entire store.

Paying for Hinata's book they left. Naruko decided to swing by the Hyuga compound so Hinata could put it away. Once she came back outside they left again, Naruko having something special planned. She brought the Hyuga girl to the top of the Hokage monument and sat down. Hinata was happy to be back there, remembering how she had been promised that they could watch the sunset together. It was still a little while away but they didn't care. They took a seat on top of the Fourth's head and cuddled, Hinata resting her head on the blonde's shoulder. She was so comfy that she ended up falling asleep and taking a little nap.

Not long after they settle down, another couple climbed onto the monument as well. It was Ino and Tenten, the two having gone out to find a private place to spend time together since Tenten's parents had come back home. They noticed the other two and saw Naruko readjusting Hinata so that the girl's head was resting on her chest. Hinata sighed happily in her sleep and snuggled closed to the blonde, listening to her heartbeat.

Tenten giggled, "Aw, that's so cute! You know, Naruto isn't half bad looking as a girl."

Ino grabbed her ear, pulling it. "Hey! What do you think you're doing drooling over Naruto when you _have_ a girlfriend!?"

The brunette winced and pulled free, "I'm not drooling over Naruto! He's a boy remember? I was just saying."

"Fine, whatever." Ino looked over at the other two, "Let's just sit down here and leave them be. I don't want to disturb them."

Tenten agreed and they settled down on the opposite end of the monument from Naruko and Hinata. While they got comfortable, Naruko was watching Hinata sleep and thinking about the girl. She had been doing that a lot recently and had been doing even more so since she learned she'd be leaving the village that morning. The blonde had made it a goal to think about how she felt about Hinata and was going to tell her. The only problem was, she still wasn't completely sure of her feelings, which was why she was frying her brain out at the moment.

Meanwhile, Twisted had been disturbed for the second time that day. Shizune had found him reading while sitting up in a tree outside of the village. She told him that Tsunade had summoned him and he went to see her, although he wasn't happy about it. But when he arrived at her office, he was even less happy to see who was there with her.

It was a tall and beautiful woman in her early thirties with ankle length auburn hair styled into a herringbone pattern in the back and a top-knot tied up with a dark blue band. She had light green eyes and was wearing a long sleeved, dark blue dress that ended just below her knees. She was Mei Terumi, a kunoichi from the village hidden in the mist. When she saw him she smiled, the simple gesture seeming to unsettle Twisted who took a step away from the woman, looking nervous.

"Nee-san!? What are you doing here!?"

"I came here to bring you home Twisted-kun. And call me Mei-chan." Mei walked up to him and hugged him, planting a kiss on his cheek. "I've been so worried about you. You were just gone one day, I thought Orochimaru had captured you again. I had to beg the Mizukage to send out search parties to find you. We only just recently figured out you've been here these past few months."

Twisted pulled away from her and glared at Tsunade, "Of all the people of the village hidden in the mist, you had to have my sister come and pick me up!? Wait, does this mean I'm free to leave!?"

Tsunade nodded, "That's right. The Mizukage has made arrangements to ensure you'll be safely escorted back to your village. I've also taken the liberty of allowing them to know how the seal I placed on you works so they can keep track of you in case you do end up captured by Orochimaru again."

Mei turned to face the Hokage and gave her a polite bow, "Thank you again for all your help. I'm so sorry for what my he has done. I can't believe he tired to destroy your village by driving your jinchuriki insane. I hope you can forgive my fiancé for his foolish actions."

Shizune, who had been just standing to the side while the others talked, couldn't help but notice that last bit and freaked out a little. "Twisted's your fiancé?! B-but didn't he say you were his sister!?"

Mei nodded, "Yes my parents adopted him after he lost his family. But our marriage was arranged long before that happened. It's a bit of an awkward position for us really."

Twisted scoffed, "Awkward for me you mean. I see you as my older sister and the idea of marrying you is just weird. It's just a good thing that we're both shinobi, making it difficult to set the wedding date. I still think it's a bad idea and that you should just find someone else Nee-san. You're going to be an old maid otherwise and spend the rest of your life single."

Mei turned to him, smiling. "Twisted-kun, I've missed you very much and I love you. So please…don't make me have to kill you.'

Twisted paled and apologized, intimidated by her. She was easily superior to him in skill, in fact she was a potential candidate for the next Mizukage if need be. And the fact she could threaten to kill him while still smiling sweetly was really unsettling. Now with him under control, she took his hand and went to leave, thanking Tsunade again. She had to practically drag Twisted out, the man begging Tsunade to let him stay. He offered to do any missions, her paperwork and even to be nice to the people in the village. Mei told him he was embarrassing her and made him shut up with another threat to kill him.

On their way out of the building they bumped into Naruko and Hinata, the two having just left the top of the Hokage monument. Naruko saw Twisted and went up to the man, glaring at him.

"There you are! Undo that thing you did right now or else!"

Mei looked at Twisted questioningly, "Just what have you been doing here?"

A bead of sweat ran down Twisted's face and he quickly explained what had happened. Mei grabbed his ear and yanked it, forcing him to remove the seal. She let him go and he did as told. Taking hold of his ear again she dragged him off to leave the village, offering an apology to Hinata and the now back to normal Naruto.

Naruto and Hinata watched Twisted be taken away, having learned he was leaving. Once he was out of sight they went on their way. Naruto walked Hinata home since it was getting late. He had decided to tell Hinata how he felt about her and used the time it took to get there to think of how he was going to say it, along with the fact he had to leave. Before he knew it they were outside the gates to the Hyuga compound and it was time for them to part ways. Naruto gathered up all his courage and took a deep breath.

"Hinata-chan, I had a really good time with you today and before you go inside, I…I have something that I need to tell you."

The girl looked down at her feet, "I know. You're leaving the village with Lord Jiraiya to go on a trip aren't you? Lady Tsunade told me before I left the hospital. You have to leave in the morning, right?"

Naruto was a bit stunned that Hinata already knew about it. He nodded, "Yeah, I do. I'm sorry I didn't tell you sooner. I only found out about it this morning and…I didn't want to upset you while we were on our date."

"That's okay. I'm glad you didn't. It would have been hard to have fun with you if you told me." She sniffled, trying not to cry. "I'm just happy that I could spend time with you before you left."

"Hinata, please don't cry." Naruto pulled her into his arms and held her, letting her cry on his shoulder. "I know this doesn't seem fair to you, and I don't like it either. I really don't want to leave, even if it is for training."

The girl pushed away from him, "No, it's alright. I'm just being selfish. You have to go so you can become stronger. But…if I'm not going to see you for so long…then I-I want to give you something first."

The next thing Naruto knew, Hinata's lips were pressing against his own. The kiss ended just as quickly as it happened and Hinata ran inside before Naruto could even respond. He wanted to follow her and tell her he still needed to say something to her. But after what had just happened, he couldn't bring himself to do it. He didn't want to upset her anymore than she already was. So instead he went back to his apartment and for the first time in his life, hated the idea of training.

-----X-----

The next morning Naruto woke up early to pack for the trip and to clean his apartment before he left. He closed the door behind him, the time to leave just around the corner. Jiraiya was waiting for him at the village gates, Naruto walking up to him and telling him he was ready to go. They started to walk away from the village, Naruto feeling regret pulling at his heart. He didn't feel right leaving like this. It felt wrong, like there was something unfinished. The boy knew what it was and tried to tell himself it was best left alone. However in the end his feelings got the better of him and he turned around, running back to the village.

Jiraiya turned to look at him, "Naruto! What are you doing!?"

"I'll be back in a bit, I just forgot something important!"

He bolted into the village before the sannin could question him any further. Naruto ran as fast as his legs could carry him, searching the village for Hinata. He found her as she and her teammates were on their way to leave the village for a mission of their own. The girl was a little surprised to see him, having thought he'd already be gone. Naruto stopped and took a moment to catch his breath, sweating a little from exerting himself.

"H-Hinata, I…I'm glad I found you. I…I need to tell you something." He finished catching his breath and steeled himself. "I'm going to feel like a jerk for telling you this just as I'm about to leave but I'd feel like an even bigger jerk if I didn't. Plus I'd hate myself for it. I…I love you too Hinata-chan!"

The girl gawked at him in pure awe, her face turning completely red. She started to swoon and Naruto caught her before she lost her balance. He held her tight in his arms, savoring the moment. She looked up at him, still blushing and then wrapped her arms around him, hugging him back.

Naruto smiled and gently pushed away, "I have something I want you to hold onto for me while I'm gone. Here," He unzipped his coat and took off the First Hokage's necklace, handing it to her. She accepted it, still speechless from everything that was happening. Naruto held her hand, looking her in the eyes, "Promise to keep this safe for me and I'll promise to come back to you safely."

Hinata nodded, agreeing with him. Naruto kissed her, his lips gently pressing against hers. She cooed, feeling him hold her tighter while they kissed. When they separated, he smiled at the look on her face.

"I'm glad you liked that Hinata-chan. The next time I see you, you can pay me back ten times over."

He laughed and Hinata went past her limit, passing out in his arms from the idea of kissing Naruto so much. Naruto felt bad that he made her faint, but thought how cute she was when she did it. He gave her one last kiss before leaving her with her team, bidding them farewell. Returning to Jiraiya, he left the village to begin his training and await the day he could return to the girl he loved.

End.

Okay, so before we go off and say anything about this chapter I'd just like to remind you that there is an epilogue which should be up by now as well. Also thanks to Diablo200030002002 again for his idea to have Naruto use the Sexy Jutsu on his date with Hinata.


	11. Epilogue

Well here's the final part to the trilogy. It isn't very long but I hope it'll suffice as a good ending. Let me know what you think.

**Epilogue **

Nearly three years had passed since Naruto left for his training with Jiraiya. It had been a long and arduous journey, but it was finally coming to an end. They were back and currently entering the village gates. Jiraiya knew that his student had priorities of his own, so he let the teenager head off on his own and then went to report to Tsunade by himself.

Naruto walked down the streets of the village, a feeling of nostalgia washing over him. It was good to be home in familiar surroundings with familiar faces all around. Speaking of familiar faces, there was someone in particular he didn't expect to see leaning against a fence and reading a certain orange book. Heading over, he went over to the person and confronted him.

"Oi, Twisted. What are you doing here? I thought you were supposed to be back in your own village."

"I'm here for the upcoming chunin exams. I've been running back and forth between here and my village relaying messages and other things. Where the heck have you been?"

"Training with the pervy sage. I just got back."

"You've been out training for over two years? You don't seem any different to me."

Naruto scowled, "What do you know? I'm way stronger than before, maybe even stronger that you."

Twisted smirked, "Don't push it kid, I just might try to prove you wrong. Luckily for you I've got to get going. Later."

He vanished into a shadow, leaving Naruto alone. The blonde shrugged and continued on his way. He went to his apartment, wanting to check up on the place since he hadn't been there in so long. But when he got there, he was surprised to find that it was in pretty decent shape. It was still clean, and even had been fixed up a bit.

Confused he looked around some more and then heard the sound of giggling coming from the bathroom. Sneaking over he found the door open a crack and peeked inside. There was two people in the shower, both girls and what's more, they were both girls he knew: Ino and Tenten.

He didn't get a chance to get a better look before he got caught. The two girls threw things at him from the shower, hitting him in the face with a bottle of shampoo. A short while later, the two girls had dried off and gotten dressed. They sat on the couch and glared at Naruto, who was scratching the back of his head sheepishly and apologizing for the umpteenth time.

"Uhh, so what are the two of you doing here anyway?"

"Ten-chan and I live here now. I moved in not long after you left since there was still a few issues between my mother and I. Then Ten-chan moved in with me after a month or so. We've been living together ever since."

"Oh, so what did you do with all of my stuff?"

Tenten smiled, "Don't worry about that. I helped Ino-chan when she moved in and we put it in storage. Just ask Lady Tsunade and she can tell you where to get it. She can probably help you get another place to stay too."

Ino giggled, "Or maybe he can just move in with Hinata. With the way she's missed him he might as well."

Naruto's eyes lit up at the mention of the Hyuga girl, "Oh yeah, how is she? Has she changed a lot since I left?"

Tenten smirked, "She has. You won't believe what a babe she's turned into." Ino gave her girlfriend a mild glare, making the brunette falter a bit, "N-not that I think she's more beautiful than you Ino-chan!"

She giggled nervously, Ino still seeming a bit irritated. Naruto left them to sort things out and made his way to the Hyuga compound. When he got there he went through the front gates and knocked at the door. The door was answered by Neji, the older boy's eyes widening when he saw who it was.

"You're back."

Naruto smiled, "Yup! Is Hinata-chan here?"

Neji nodded, "She's training in the courtyard with her father. Follow me."

He led Naruto to the courtyard, the blonde boy catching sight of a beautiful young girl with long dark blue hair. It took him all of three seconds to realize who it was, blushing as she saw what Tenten had meant. Hinata _was_ a babe.

Neji interrupted the practice match between Hinata and her father, informing her she had a guest. Naruto went up to her, the girl staring for a moment before throwing herself at him and wrapping her arms around him. He laughed, hugging her back.

"It's nice to see you too Hinata-chan. I've missed you a lot."

"I missed you too Naruto-kun. I'm so happy you're back."

"I noticed. Hey, where's my welcome home kiss?"

Hinata blushed and pressed her lips to his in a quick, chaste kiss. She followed it up with a short series of similar kisses, making it ten in all. Naruto grinned at her when they separated.

"You remembered."

She nodded, "I also remembered this." She took out the First's necklace and gave it back to him. "I took good care of it, like I promised."

"Thanks Hinata-chan. Here, I have a little something for you. While I was gone, I thought about you every day and I just ended up buying this. It's not as nice as I wanted it to be, but it was the best I could do since I didn't have a lot of money on me while traveling."

He reached into his ninja tools pouch and pulled out a ring box, handing it to Hinata. Inside she found a simple gold ring. She looked at the piece of jewelry for a moment before returning her gaze to the blonde boy.

"Naruto-kun, thank you. I love it."

He blushed, "So…does that mean yes?"

It took a moment for Hinata to figure out what he meant. When she did she blushed and wasn't able to meet his eyes. "O-oh! Well, um…I…" She looked over to her father, unsure of what he thought about all of this. He smiled and shook his head.

"It's your choice Hinata. Not mine."

Hinata was overcome with joy and hugged her father, thanking him. She then returned to Naruto, hugging him and happily accepting the ring. Hiashi smiled at the two and walked past them, heading inside.

"I'll have the arrangements made and we'll schedule the wedding for Hinata's eighteenth birthday. That is as long as that's alright for you two."

Neji smirked at his cousin and her new fiancé, "Something tells me they don't mind at all. However, Naruto may need a place to stay until then. From what I understand his old apartment is occupied."

"I'm sure we can work something out. In the meantime he can room with you Neji. Now let's leave them to have some time alone. They have a lot of catching up to do."

He and Neji continued to head inside. Meanwhile, Hinata and Naruto continued to embrace, Hinata letting out a content sigh, "I just can't wait for our wedding day, Naruto-kun. I only wish it wasn't so far off."

"Don't worry Hinata-chan. That day will come before you even know it, and I promise to make it the happiest day of your life. Speaking of which…" Naruto turned to face his future father-in-law, calling after him. "Hey Hiashi-sama, how many grandkids do you want?"

Hinata's whole face turned beet red and her mind was filled with images of raising children with Naruto. She also got a few images of just what would need to be done for them to have said children and ended up fainting in his arms. Naruto smirked at her reaction, unable to find it as anything but cute. It looked like some things would never change.

End.

Alright and with that this trilogy is officially over. One last thank you to all of you who have read it from the start and stayed with me. I hoped you enjoyed it all and keep your eyes open for my future works.


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